


Finding Summer

by EchoGalen



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/F, Summer Society
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-18 15:56:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8167628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoGalen/pseuds/EchoGalen
Summary: Danny Lawrence is in her third year of college when a freshman, Laura Hollis, asks to shadow her and her ongoings in the Summer Society. While Danny is excited for the girl to see her day to day life, Melanippe as president of the club is less than stellar with the idea. The other factions of the Summers are coming to town, and not all of them enjoy the company of little humans with cameras. An expansive tale surrounding Danny's life in the Summers, and a take on what other factions could be out there in the world.





	1. The Start of Summer

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for clicking, and reading, this story! I really hope you enjoy what's here, and my take on the different possibilities of other Summer Societies from around the world. This may be a small little ship that could, and I don't expect much in terms of readers or comments, but I thank all of you who are here right now because you really help me out. Without further ado, here's the story!

Danny Lawrence grew up with the gods all around her. She was at the ripe age of eight years old when she learned of them for the first time. At first it was in her English class. Her teacher, Mrs. Snider, had given them all a book at the beginning of the class full of literature from different cultures. Curious Danny was always ahead of others in her class, and so she would skip through her book when she was waiting on the students to catch up. On page 394 is where the girl found her true interests: Grecian gods. Her cornflower blue orbs dashed about the page hungrily, reading every little cliff note and summary of the gods Artemis and Athena, Adonis and Anteros. She found their stories, their adventurers in the realm of mortal men, and of their patronage to villages and cities.

As Danny grew, so did her hunger for these stories. She found that there were many gods, lesser and greater, and that they used to govern different aspects of human life. The sun rose because Apollo's chariot dashed across the sky and brought warmth and comfort to all. His twin sister, and one of which Danny loved to read of the most, Artemis had her trusty bow that brought about the crescent moon, a direct personification of her weapon. The dawn came because of Eos, and the night came because of the goddess Nyx.

And that was just the beginning, Danny found as she continued to sate herself and the love of books! Many gods ruled all of nature, winds, and even aided in harvest and childbirth. Others ruled over the dead, and sought to care for the living in various ways. There were cruel gods, wrathful beings, but there were also kind and loving goddesses and gods as well. Danny would traverse the library every day after her classes to pick up all the books she could find of Greek Mythology. Many would wonder if she ever did her homework, though their suspicions were silenced as the girl continued to get A's on all of her assignments. She continued to excel, wishing to go to a college in Greece, until she found a school that was undoubtedly in sync with her interests.

Silas University. When Danny's eyes flashed over the school's pamphlet stuck in a snug corner behind all the other ones, her delicate fingers instantly darted out to grab it. It looked practically like a castle, the archaic looking buildings dotting the campus, and with each turn of the pages, Danny's interests skyrocketed. One of the things that made up her mind came on page 4: The Summer Society. The sigil sported, what could have possibly been, the head of Athena with, what Danny fervently decided, were Artemis' arrows going through the crest. In no other sponsored pamphlet had she seen anything resembling the mythology she loved reading about, and thus her mind was made as she packed her things to leave for home.

The valedictorian speech was delivered the final year of her high school career with love, appreciation, and hope for the future. When the tall red head threw up her cap and looked out to her graduating class, tears welled up in her eyes and the air cracked all about her as thunderous applause filled the area. Laughing, crying, Danny ran to her parents at the back of the rows of students and gave them both a big hug. Her flushed cheeks were kissed, her shoulder patted by her father, and there were many- _many_ \- pictures. The elation in the girl's demeanor was all too apparent, and though her mother was fretting about her, it did not deter Danny from convincing her of her numerous visits that were to come. Austria was far away, any mother would agree when they called the Western Hemisphere their home, but she was never one to stop her daughter from doing anything in life. She would not stop her baby now, even if in a few months her only child would be whisked hundreds of miles away from her to start school without her watchful gaze.

After saying goodbye for the umpteenth time at the airport, Danny Lawrence turned away from her parents, her hand tightening on the strap of her backpack, as she breathed deeply and looked up towards the electronic sign that read her flight number and departure time. This was it, the girl thought as she slowly placed one leg in front of the other. She promised herself she would not look back before entering the gate, but Danny was never one to keep such things, and the girl turned around one last time to wave to her crying parents. Determination filled her body as she adjusted her carry-on backpack, turned one final time, and stepped onto the plane.

Danny's first year at Silas wasn't as weird as many probably thought it'd be. She settled into university life rather easily, spending most of her free time when not studying with the Summer Society and helping around the Literature department. As a first year student, Silas did not allow her to be a teacher's assistant yet, though she helped out where she could for the sheer happiness of doing so. The Summer Society, she found, was everything she wanted them to be and even though there were strange talks of other Summer girls, Danny placed it out of her mind as she ran, and beat, all of the obstacle courses. There were brief moments when she wondered if what was flying from the cannons was real fire, but seeing as she got through them without any burns, she continued to have fun with the courses. The girls rallied behind the tall girl, amazed at her strength and determination on the field, and it wasn't long before Danny found respect and loyalty in the recreational club. It was much stronger than the bond she had with her own basketball and softball teams at home, and she welcomed the affection shown to her with opened arms.

School progressed easily for her, the amazon keeping close track of everything going on in her life, and it was her second year when she found the extent of how creepy and unreal Silas truly got. Her Summer Sister, Melanippe- whom Danny loved solely for her name- began a history lesson for all second year students a part of the club. Mel described it as only being available for those who were strong enough to make it through one year on the Silas campus, and thus began to tell them all of the intricacies of the Summer Society name. It didn't take Danny long to realize the president was not making anything up, the girl's voice deadly serious the entire time, and she was glad to know that the other second year students were also dumbstruck into silence. Sure, people press ganged others in the cafeteria- which Danny tried her best to stop when she was there- but this? This was different in every way.

Mel began to tell them of the roots of the Summer Society that they were a part of. Her words were quick yet kind, allowing them all to take in exactly what she was saying. Of how long ago their Society was made by women of all ages who vowed to protect women from the things that went bump in the night. How, even though the other Summers were their friends, there was still great animosity surrounding all four branches. Mel continued to explain that any Sister who wanted to leave should do so now, giving them a free pass after warning them of the danger it meant to continue to be a part of the Society. Danny saw the look of respect on the president's face when none of the girl's sitting neat in a circle moved for the exit. And thus, with her head held high, started Danny's true life in the Summer Society.

 

* * *

 

 

Cornflower blue orbs found themselves distracted as they tried to look over analytical papers on the start of World War 1 after they read a famous novel by Ernest Hemingway. Instead of being able to read said papers, Danny found herself being distracted by the beautiful scenery outside of the window. It was her third year at Silas and still she could never say anything bad about the view. What was interesting, however, was a bird of prey sitting outside of the window as it usually did. The Common Kestrel seemed to love the school, which Danny could guess why, and there were many of them fluttering about outside or in the trees. She was happy to know that this was probably the only school that attracted such birds, and she silently snorted at the thought before looking back to her small desk.

Her brow raised as she saw a vibrant red apple that she had not placed there at the foot of the desk. Looking up, a delicate smile appeared on her features when she saw the tiny girl that had given it to her. The girl, Laura was her name, had been looking over to see if Danny would finally see her gift. When both of their eyes locked, the tiny girl suddenly found her readings more interesting, hiding herself behind a sheet of honey blonde hair. It made the TA chuckle lightly to herself, shaking her head softly before taking the apple and placing it beside the papers she was grading. She would allow a lull in her resolve to look towards the apple, a small smile on her lips, before she shook her head and went back to grading papers.

The end of class was over far too late, and Danny sighed as she began packing up her things to go.

“Oh, Danny,” the professor said, coming up to her with his bag in hand. The tall girl quickly gave her attention to the man, telling him he had her full awareness to begin speaking again. “Mind staying a bit after class to finish the papers? I'd rather you not take them to your dorm. There was a leak a few days ago in the Math department.” His face contorted as he hissed in a breath. “Never know what the consequences will be next time. You understand right?”

Danny would have given her answer if the professor wasn't already out the door, waving to her one last time before he disappeared. It left the girl sighing before she lowered her head and massaged the bridge of her nose. She was not looking, or even listening, as the small skittering of approaching feet silenced in front of her desk.

“Um...” a small voice said, the reluctant undertones apparent.

The TA snapped herself out of her own misery long enough to say, “Class hours are posted on the door. If you need something talk to Professor-” A lip bite is what stopped her as she finally looked up. The girl, Laura, from the second row was standing in front of her. Her books were stacked in her arms, her papers looking as if they were trying to jump away from the pile. Danny steeled herself before shaking her head, getting up slightly to grab hold of the retreating girl's arm. Letting go she smiled and continued, “I'm sorry. Staying after class wasn't on my to do list. What do you need?”

Shining eyes took the go-ahead immediately before the girl adjusted her overly large backpack on her shoulder. “I was, um, wondering if I could ask you for a favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

Laura gulped as the woman's hair slightly fell into her face as she cocked her head. Blinking a few times, remembering why she was there, she said, “Well my name is Laura Hollis-”

“I know.”

“-and...” a small laugh escaped her throat. “I'm... doing a project in my journalism class.”

Danny, who was gathering her papers more so to have something to do rather than glancing at Laura's features, looked up and replied, “Oh yeah? Journalism, huh.”

“Yeah!” It was the right choice because Laura lit up like a Christmas tree at someone showing interest in what she did. “So for this report we're just supposed to come up with an assignment for ourselves- as long as it's reporting on someone or something- of what we're going to do and stuff. And I was thinking, since the Summer Society is this super-mega-awesome, women empowerment, totally cool club that you could let me... shadow you for this semester.”

A quirk of the brow before another smile preceded Danny's expostulated words, “Ah, so this was a bribe!” Her hand snatched up the apple, holding it between the two as they both eyed it.

Laura's orbs widened. “What! A bribe would totally be unethical! No- I... Okay, so if theoretically it was a bribe...” She pauses, a smile on her lips, as Danny begins to laugh. “Okay, so for the sake of argument, if I let you believe it was- a bribe- did it work?”

“Fifty-fifty,” the tall woman said, leaning back in her chair. Still holding onto the apple she continued, “So what would shadowing me entail, exactly?”

“Oh it's not that bad, honest! I would mostly be following you around with this camera Professor Cochrane let me borrow for the project.” To emphasis her point, Laura puts her books down onto Danny's desk before rummaging around in her bag. The fruits of her labor was seen in the form of a rather high end camera between her fingers. “Video, pictures, everything that really goes on in the Summer Society, ya know? To spice it up, we can do commentaries and candid shots of the super cool obstacle course you guys have! Commentaries can be done on my computer, probably, since that has a camera too and-”

Danny places her surprise at the expensive camera aside long enough to listen to Laura's mutterings of isolated computer commentary times. It makes her lean forward, placing the apple on the desk, before intertwining her fingers and smiling. “I'm one hundred percent down for it! Though,” she said, placing up her finger so that Laura would stop jumping around and yipping, “I have to ask Mel the president of the Summers. And are you really sure you want to do this? Most of the time I'm outside and it gets really hot and sweaty.”

“Well I don't think that'll be a problem, what with seeing you all hot and sweaty. I mean- Oh yeah, of course! I-I could even talk to her with you to show that I'm not trying to smear the Summers name or anything. I mean, who would even try, ya know. Unless I was taken captive by the Zeta's and forced to turn against the Sisters and- isn't that what you call yourselves: sisters? Well even so, I really didn't want to do this report on the Zeta's and their 'bro'-fest fraternity though I think underneath all that faux chivalry there's heart in some of them and-”

“Okay, okay, hold on.” Danny places up her hand, halting more of Laura's babbles. “I think one word of doing us or the Zeta's will get the prez' on your side. I'll talk to her for you, okay?”

Laura jumps into the air once, putting away her camera and placing her hands onto the desk. She leaned in closely, just out of reach of Danny's personal space before excitedly saying, “Really? You'll really do that for me! Oh my gosh, you are amazing! You will so not regret this. I only have, like, three weeks of journalism class under my belt but I promise this will totally be worth your while!”

Before Danny could say a word, Laura is already picking up her books and waving as she exited the class. It makes the woman shake her head again, letting out a small snort, before she runs her fingers through her hair. She had probably set them both up for failure seeing as the Summers were so much more than just an outdoor recreational club, but the tiny girl was adamant and Danny always loved that. Mel, on the other hand, probably wouldn't but any good representation for the Summers against the Zeta's was good press. Regardless of the other Summers coming soon, Danny was confident the president had to see that.

But that was for later, the TA decided as she sighed heavily. At this very moment, there were papers to grade and kids to pass. That, for the most part, took priority! Well that is what the woman kept telling herself as her eyes drifted over the red apple every so often...

 

* * *

 

 

“Always dropping the worst news before important events, Lawrence,” Melanippe's agitated voice rang out as her vice president pleaded for some reporter girl.

“I'm pretty sure everyone at Silas already knows of the weird things that go bump in the night. The possibility of seeing it on Laura's report, that no one's probably going to watch anyways, isn't damning.”

Danny had been at this for almost thirty minutes now. From the moment she walked into the building only used for the Summers, she had tried to sponsor Laura's proposition. She didn't see what harm it could possibly cause and only saw the benefits, though Mel was completely opposite. It didn't bother Danny, she rather enjoyed the bouts her and Mel had most of the time, though she really wanted a yes more than usual. Whether it was because she really wanted to be around the reporter in training or because she simply thought it would be a good idea to get the Summers' cause out to the public, not even she knew. Though she hadn't used her trump card yet when it came to Mel's insatiable usage of the word no.

“The other factions of Summers are coming by the end of the month,” Mel began again. She had been trying to drill this sole fact into Danny's head since the start of the stupid argument. “How do you think they're going to feel with some meek little human filming them all the time? Do you really want the treaty to be put in jeopardy over some first year's journalism project?”

“Of course not,” Danny replied, sighing. “But I'd rather have her doing the project on us rather than the Zeta's.”

The room went silent, the other Sisters almost gasping in their seats as the two women discussed what would happen. While the Society had a president and a vice president, it was still more so a democracy rather than a dictatorship. Every Sister had a say in what they wanted to happen, while the president reinstated those believes with the power of action. Though the president, and to some extent the vice president, could act upon themselves, most decision still went though the entirety of the Society for good measure. At the mention of the Zeta's, Danny knew she had won over the ones she needed to because of this form of government. She crossed her arms, looking to Mel now, before out to her Sisters.

“What say you?” she called, knowing the answer before it was uttered from the lips of the women in the room.

A chorus of “Aye” and “Proceed” sprang forth into the area, and Danny nodded before looking back to Mel. The woman shook her head, a scoff leaving her lips, before she held up her hand. The sign demand silence, and after it fell upon the room, she would speak.

Glaring back to Danny, Mel slowly and agonizingly said, “Aye.”

The tall girl nodded, a grim look on her face before she replied, “Thank you. You won't regret this, Mel.”

“For our Sister's sake, I hope not, Lawrence.” Letting another moment of silence filter through the room, Mel allowed her voice to rise and carry over the Sisters in the building. “Now onward to the next order of business!”

Danny left the front of the room, that was almost set like a stage, to find her seat in the front row. They didn't sit in chairs, the metal contraptions sitting at the end of the building in neat rows, and all of the Sisters sat on the floor or took a knee. Because they were rarely in the building for more than thirty minutes discussing business, or even an hour for longer arguments, there was really no use for getting out the chairs only to put them back in so little time. Danny didn't mind, finding the floor quite nice since it was real polished wood, and though Mel continued to speak of the Sand and Snow Summers' arrival, her mind was only on Laura and how she would surprise her with the good news.

 

* * *

 

 

Laura Hollis was giddily writing down note after note as Professor Cochrane did her lecture. The woman looked so familiar, especially with certain exploits that the girl had to look up later, and Laura loved every second of it. By the end of the class the girl had two full pages worth of notes on famous journalists, and she even had gotten a nod of approval from the professor for answering a question correctly. As they all packed up their books to go, Professor Cochrane reminded everyone rather harshly of their journalism projects. It was a full semester long assignment, and she promised that she would know if a student tried to alter the records of their footage to make it seem as if they started right away instead of doing it all in one night.

If anything it only gave Laura more resolve to start it immediately, and her mind went to her beautiful- er... nice TA in her literature class. She hoped Danny had spoken to the president to get permission for the shadowing aspect, though she physically hit herself over the head. No way she did it already, Laura thought as she packed up her belongings and slung her backpack over her shoulder. She continued to tell herself that Danny needed some time to make sure it was okay, and to not rush her. Most likely she would get a response back tomorrow or even next week when she had that class again. Laura continued to kick herself for not getting Danny's phone number, though she doubted she would be trusted to have it, as she walked out of the class with her head down in concentration.

She was so trapped in her own mind, she didn't even see someone fall into step beside her until almost a minute had passed. Looking to her right, and really far upward, Laura let out a small, “Whuu,” before clamping her mouth shut as she saw her really, really pretty TA standing there.

“I thought you'd never notice me. It was kind of comforting,” Danny said, smiling as she always did when around Laura.

The girl cleared her throat, stopping in her tracks, as she turned fully to the woman. “I- hi! How are you doing? Wait, what are you doing here?”

Danny laughed before rolling her eyes. “You said you were doing a journalism project. It wasn't a hard leap to figure, out of the three days this class runs for, which one you were probably in.”

“Have you been here the entire time?”

“What, no. I just got back from the Summers ten minutes ago, hence the stink.” Danny's finger pointed to herself before she swatted the air casually.

“You don't stink! You actually smell really nice,” Laura blurted. “Um, I mean, well, anyways! If you just came back from the Summers and you're here, does that mean what I think it means?”

Red hair bounced about shoulders as Danny nodded. “You start at five AM, Hollis. My dorm's on the east side near the training course for the Summers. But you can meet me in the caf' if you want.”

The determination on Laura's tiny face almost caused Danny to laugh again, but she did her best to hide it. The girl nodded furiously, her own bright smile appearing on her face, and she began to thank Danny without stop. It took the TA some time to finally quiet Laura's thanks and praise, and she reminded her yet again of what time they were supposed to start tomorrow morning.

“I'll be there!” Laura cried, her hand tightening on the strap of her backpack again.

Another nod was given along with a soft shoulder tap to the girl. “And for what it's worth,” Danny says before she turns and begins walking away, “I would never think you would try to bribe me.”

The woman is totally lying if she said she didn't see the large blush making it's residence on Laura's cheeks. And Laura would be lying if she ever said she was trying to hide it from her. Another moment falls before Laura begins walking in the direction of her dorm room, insanely happy to begin her shadowing project. Though, she thought as she entered her room before laying onto her bed, taking off her heavy backpack slowly, she would have to set her alarm clock for the earliest she had ever had to get up for an assignment. With a moan, Laura flipped herself over, and bitter-sweetly set her alarm for four o' clock in the morning.

Just as Laura was moving like molasses to set her alarm, Danny was checking then rechecking her clock to make sure hers was still on. A sense of joy and elation was making her muscles twitch, and while she longed to go on a run before bed, she knew she had to get at least five hours of sleep to function for the following day. The thought of allowing another person into her daily routine, her life, that was outside of the Summers was honestly riveting. And as Danny's head hit the pillow and her eyes closed, the possible outcomes of the following day passed through her mind's eye in satisfying waves. She had no idea what the future held, but Danny knew it was going to be great. In one way or another.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because this is a story in progress, I have chosen for now not to add in Carmilla. That may change depending on how I feel/what readers suggest, but under no circumstances will there be a love interest, or a love triangle, in this story between Carmilla and Laura. This is purely a story centered around Danny, and to an extent Hollence, with the different Summers.
> 
> I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, guys. Seriously, I really do. Hope to see you in the next update!


	2. The Interest of Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First days are always the worst, is usually the saying. Though it'll take a lot more than blood to stop Laura Hollis from shadowing the beautiful amazon that is Danny!

Laura starts awake as her alarm kicks off. A moan escaped both her and her roommate's mouth though one was able to turn over, put the pillow on her head and go back to sleep, while the other had to smack her face into the pillow and rethink her entire life. Shutting off the alarm so as not to make her roommate dislike her even more, Laura rolls out of bed lethargically before going to the bathroom to take her shower. It's so early in the morning that Laura actually forgets her clothes, and after her shower the girl darted out into the room with a towel on. Finding her clothes for the day, an ordinary striped shirt and jeans, she pulls them on before going back into the bathroom again.

She found if she took more time, Danny would already be at the cafeteria wondering where the journalist was. Thankful her hair wouldn't be a mess if she chose to air dry it, and Laura bolted out of the bathroom after doing her business. Grabbing a smaller bag for the day, making sure not to drop Professor Cochrane's camera, Laura dashes out of the room without a second glance back. Her feet do not enjoy running in their slip on shoes, the girl finds as she half skipped, half ran to the cafeteria on campus. Getting there with time to spare, and way out of air, she takes a few moments to prop herself on the wall before the cafeteria doors to catch her breath. No way was she going to let Danny see her like this!

“Laura, are you okay?”

Well wasn't this just peachy.

The girl bolts up, glad that her bag was attached to her shoulders or it would have hit the ground hard, and looks square at Danny Lawrence. She's still trying to catch her breath but she flicks her wrist confidently trying to show in a nonverbal way she's A-okay. Danny doesn't seem to believe her, but a dazzling smile is her reward before the taller woman ushers Laura inside of the cafeteria.

As Laura looks around, Danny notices the look of amazement on her face. She cocks her head, still moving forward, before asking, “You've... been in here before haven't you?”

Thankfully the journalist has caught her breath enough to talk and she looked up towards the ceiling as she replied, “Nuh-uh.”

“How have you survived?”

“Perry says my fridge is filled with glucose and palm oil, but I say delicious cookies make the whole world go 'round.”

They're standing in line, Danny actually looking to see what she's going to get while Laura is still marveling at the scope of the cafeteria. “Perry, isn't that your floor don?”

“Yeah, do you know her?” Laura finally turns back to Danny before looking interested at the school lunch line. She doesn't have much money, her being nineteen and away from home and all, though she's sure she's got something to buy her breakfast for herself.

Danny grabs an apple, banana, a muffin, and a bottled water before paying. “Not really. I've just seen her around. She's very... motherly.”

Laura rolls her eyes, understanding exactly what Danny is trying to say, and replies, “Yeah but she means well. If you ever need any help, you can always talk to her about-”

“Girl problems!” they say in tandem before laughing.

It is Laura's turn in line now and Danny is aware of just how little she gets. One cookie, and a cup of hot chocolate, to be exact. Her brow quirks for a moment before she dismisses the question from her features. Nodding her head over to an empty table, Danny makes sure Laura is following before she started moving.

“So what's on the list for today?” Laura asks, taking a small bite of her cookie.

Danny, realizing she's probably trying to savor it, clears her throat of apple and responds, “So the first order of business is just going around the obstacle course. None of the other girls are usually up this early, so it'll be all ours for the morning. I also like to clean the field of any leaves, branches, beer cans and things of that nature. The Zeta's don't trash the field since what happened last time, but they still do some stuff like that.”

“What happened last time?”

“They knocked over all our equipment, took a chainsaw to some of our obstacle course- the usual,” Danny responds, shrugging.

“Whoa hold on,” Laura squeaks, trying not to choke on her piece of cookie. “Did you just say chainsaws?”

“Yep. Good ol' fashioned chainsaws right to the supports of the climbing wall. It sent a girl to the hospital on campus, so the Sisters rallied up with the bows and rushed a frat party in the quad.”

Laura was silent for a moment, contemplating all of this before she lowly replied, “That's pretty intense.”

The taller girl laughs, finishing her apple and placing the core onto the table. “No worries, Hollis. It really just consisted of the shooting of beers out of the Zeta's hands and destroying the punch bowl. No one was harmed in the rushing of the party.”

A snicker escapes Laura before she looks away. Clearing her throat, letting a moment pass, she looks back to Danny with soulful brown eyes. “So besides the obvious, why do the Summer Society and the Zeta's hate each other so much?”

“Mostly nowadays it's because of our similarities. We both want to protect the girls on campus, but neither of us want to work together to do that. Because,” Danny says, cutting off Laura's question before it was asked, “the Summer's want to protect them because, in simple terms, feminism. The Zeta's want to protect them because they want to try to hook up afterwards. Like you said before, 'faux chivalry'. We want to reinstate our night marches, while the Zeta's are, again, trying to hook up. So usually sardines and salted heron are thrown, and arrows and tridents are flung.”

She knew she was speaking rather casually, hoping Laura wouldn't think her an uncaring monster or something, but it was all matter of fact things. She disliked talking about the reasons for the current conflicts, mostly because it reminded her of the history of the Summer's, though she also wanted to continue to tell Laura of such things for the sole fact of the girl's interest.

Laura didn't seemed perturbed by Danny's casual attitude and she looked rather interested- especially in the salted heron bit. She had finished her cookie and was now working on her hot chocolate while Danny was on the latter portions of her banana. The nineteen year old, while she was optimistic about the world, was not a fool and she understood what Danny said about the Zeta's. She had met one in her history class, Kirsch was his name, and she felt deep down with a bit of knowledge thrown at him he could be an outstanding gentleman. Though she wondered how peace talks with him would go after the Zeta's found out she was doing a report on the Summer's- and it wasn't about throwing them under the bus.

“So, you ready to go?” Danny asked, standing up from her seat and dusting off her hands.

The girl blinked and looked around, scrunching up her face when she realized Danny had eaten so fast that she had forgotten to ask a question in between. That would not deter her, however and she immediately replied, “I sure am!” It made the tall red head snicker before throwing her garbage away, Laura following suit, and she fell in step beside her out of the cafeteria. As they walked, Laura formulated more questions in her mind and began asking them out loud with the aid of her camera pointed towards Danny. “So off to the field we go to clean it up and train before the other Sisters-” Laura paused, turning the camera on herself, clearing her throat, and saying, “-that's the name for all members in the Society.” Turning the camera back around to aim at Danny, she continued, “-Before the other Sisters wake up!”

Danny listened to Laura begin rambling to the camera about the field and of its legacy, and with small inputs here and there, the TA made herself warranted in the videos. It was strange being in front of a camera, especially in front of something she still had doubts that others would possibly see, though she allowed it to cascade over her with change. If there was one thing Danny liked it was minimal change. This was right there in that field and she was happy that she was smiling and answering questions for this girl. It was natural charm Laura had over her, and Danny felt it tugging at her moral compass.

They both walked and talked throughout the halls of the building until they finally opened the doors to the campus grounds. They were strangely always beautiful, always green and vibrant, and Danny led them to just the north of the area towards the Summer's building and field. It wasn't a long walk towards their destination, though Danny took Laura by their meeting hall before going out to the field a few miles away.

“This is where we keep most of our equipment,” Danny explains, looking towards Laura before being directed towards the camera. “Uh- as you can see it's a pretty large space, and we usually use it all. The Summer Society has a vast number of girls and this building keeps getting built onto by the university depending on the influx of students.”

“Why are there chairs in the back like that?” Laura asks.

“We usually don't use them since it takes too much time with the number of girls. So we just leave them back there until we need them. That usually never happens though.” Danny smiles towards Laura before directing her attention back to the camera. “So I'm just going to get the keys that start up the course real quick.”

“Wait,” Laura interrupts, “why do we need keys?”

“Some of the course is pretty dangerous,” Danny explains. “There are certain mechanics that can only be activated by the turning of a key in the base of the mechanism. Don't worry,” she says as she turns towards the stage, “I've done this a million times. I'll be fine.”

“She'll totally be fine,” Laura whispers to herself, totally convincing the camera- no way was she saying it over and over again for herself.

While Danny was gone, the girl began to walk about the room slowly. She was filming every nook she found more interesting than the others, and her mind raced of how awesome it would look to see all of the Sisters in this room being cool and sitting in neat rows. She began making fanciful stories of their battles on the obstacle course, making the water pit they were bound to have full of snakes or the fire machines into dragons. They were pretty intricate stories, if she could say so herself, and her orbs looked about the room with intrigue even more as she wondered of tales for the main building.

When she felt a shadow to her back, and possibly a presence, Laura turned around with a smile on her face and the camera lifted. What she thought she would find was Danny, but what she found was... nothing at all. Cocking her head and looking around, Laura wondered if she had too many story thoughts running through her head and if she had just imagined it. It wasn't an ominous presence, just a familiar one, but still something inside of her made her shiver slightly. The sun filtering through the room was bound to have some sorts of light bending properties, and Laura put it out of her mind as she turned away from the doorway again.

This time when she turned after feeling a presence, it was Danny walking towards her jiggling the keys on her finger. The tall girl cocked her head toward the door, indicating them to leave, and waited until Laura followed after getting one last panning shot of the room. Closing the door to the building, but not locking it, Danny and Laura continued on towards the field. It was a beautiful day, probably about 19 degrees, and the crisp air was nice on both of the girls' skin. They chatted about small things here and there as they traversed the miles. In that time Danny learned a bit of Laura's father, and how he would definitely not condone such activity without the taller girl being protected by a marshmallow suit. It made her laugh mostly, giving Laura a snippet of her own life with her parents and of their non-smothering ways.

“Promise to show you the gash I got from getting knocked in the thigh by a baseball bat,” Danny said as the field came into view.

“As much as I'd love seeing that, I think I'll pass,” Laura commented, laughing and sticking out her tongue.

Danny made her own face before she turned away from the journalist and looked out onto the field as they finally came to it. Beer cans, leaves, even a dead bird was all the things Danny Lawrence was expecting upon glancing the field over. What she got, however, was-

“What in the world happened?” a bewildered Laura expostulated.

The taller girl was speechless as her eyes took in crimson liquid swathed over the field as if someone had used a giant paint brush. A sudden chill filled Danny to the brim, it causing gooseflesh on her shoulders and arms. Her breathing came more shallowly, her senses pushed into over drive. She took in how every small blade of grass had droplets from them, fresh as if they were just bathed in the carmine liquid, and of how the area did not seem trampled by a humanistic form. If anything it looked completely untouched but for those paint strokes, and if it wasn't for Laura here now, Danny would have missed what was glaring at her from the moment they arrived.

Her head darted to the right suddenly, straight over Laura, as she saw something move in the distance. For a split second she could have sworn she saw a hunched blackened figure, a pearly white toothy grin at odds from the dark face about it, before it disappeared in the next possible second. Clenching her fist, Danny turned back to the field before taking out her phone.

It took only two rings for it to pick up and the cutting words Danny spoke into the phone almost shocked a confused Laura to the very core. “They're here.”

 

* * *

 

 

“I'm sorry,” Laura said, her camera never stopped rolling as she was whisked away from the field, “who's here now?” When Danny didn't answer, Laura stopped in her tracks and said, “Okay, that's fine if you're keeping secrets and stuff. But I know where you can test the blood to see who or what it belongs to.”

Danny, who had kept walking a few steps forward before turning and giving Laura a look, paused for a moment. “This is your science friend, isn't it- LaFontaine.”

“It sure is!” Laura gleefully said, running to Danny and grabbing her hand. Turning back the way they came, the girl began to dash towards the field with all due haste. When they arrived back to the greenery again, Laura made a face before bending down towards the blood. “Do you have a clean rag or something I can-” She stopped as she heard the ripping of Danny's shirt hem. “Okay, that'll do.”

The journalist slowly and gently rubbed the blood onto the shirt piece before making a “yuck” sound in the back of her throat, not seeing Danny on guard behind her. Making sure to get a good amount, Laura folded it onto itself to keep it from going dry too quickly, and jutted her head towards the Science building on the other side of campus. Her camera was still in hand and she pointed it directly at Danny the entire time as she asked rapid fire questions yet again.

“Okay so who's here? And what were they trying to do- some kind of incredibly Hannibal hazing ritual? Who did you call about it? Was it Mel, I bet it was Mel. She's the president, of course you called her. Okay, so you called her which means you know who did it and my guess it wasn't the Zeta's. Or it could have been the Zeta's trying to cover their tracks by doing something totally out of left field for them. Oh my gosh, this is so much more than I thought was going to happen!”

Danny finally spoke as they rounded the corner of the Science building and went through the doors, “And what did you think was going to happen?”

 _Probably kissing._ “Watching you go through hoops of death, of course!” A small laugh escaped her before she gulped. “Oh look, the person we're here for,” she cries, spotting LaFontaine in their usual position at the lab.

LaFontaine looked up, goggles on their face, before a wide smile appeared on their features. “Hey, Laur. What's up?”

“Nothing much. Say, can you look at, just throwing this out there, blood for us?”

“Riiight,” LaF said, taking off their goggles and turning their experiment on low heat. “And what is this for exactly?”

“We just wanted to see if this blood belonged to the animal we found at the side of the woods,” Danny interjects.

“Sure you did. Laur, the true story.”

Laura nervously laughs as she looked to Danny. Seeing as the taller woman gave her the look of a go ahead, she blurts, “Okay so something went AWOL on the Summer Society's field and covered it with these huge paint strokes of blood! We're here to see if it's animal or otherwise.”

LaFontaine nodded their head the entire time Laura talked and by the time she finished, they've got that smile stretching from ear to ear. “Just can't stay out of the weird huh, Laura. No worries, I can look at it right now. I kinda already memorized the look of the different blood formation from animals to humans.”

“You say that like it's an easy thing to do,” Laura said, following a now frantic science geek.

Danny nods her head and says, “That's pretty impressive.”

It garners LaF's nod of approval before they place the piece of cloth down on the table. Taking a swab from it and brushing it onto a slider, they quickly get down to work changing the gears on the microscope to see better. With bated breath both Danny and Laura wait, and the “Huh” comes all too soon.

“So it's animal blood. Not any that I've seen before though. How big of a quantity did you say you found on the field?”

“Um,” Laura begins, trying to picture it.

“The entire field was covered with it, about a few feet in between each stroke.”

LaF ponders Danny's words for a moment. “With how big the field is compared to the strokes' width, I'd say whatever animal they did use didn't survive this. Which I frown upon unless they used it for scientific means, and even then humans are so much better to-” They stop before smiling and shrugging nervously. “If Perr heard me saying something like that, I'd be in deep.”

“Oh goodness, it's nice to see you, Laura!” a voice rang out from behind them. As all three turned, LaF- who most definitely thought of the phrase “Speak of the devil”- waved happily at their friend, Lola Perry. The woman walked in, high wasted jeans and a shirt making her seem older, and gave Laura a gentle pat on the back. “And you, Danny! It's nice to see both of you.”

“You know who I am?” Danny asked, aware that yes they were practically in the same grade but it was still strange to be noticed.

“Of course, dear. You're the vice president of the Society. Everyone knows you. What are you two doing here?”

“Oh we're just-” all three spoke in tandem before LaF cleared their throat.

“I'm just helping them with their science lab. They needed the microscope to look at some blood.”

Perry almost seemed to shake at the words before she waved her hands in front of her. “Now, now, let's stop all this funny business and get some breakfast. I know you haven't eaten, LaFontaine.”

“You're right on that front,” LaF says happily before they get up from the microscope and cleaned their station. Faux saluting them both, LaF begins to walk out of the room with Perry before the latter stops and turns to an non-moving Laura and Danny.

“Well, you two, aren't you coming?”

Danny spoke casually, “Nah, we already had breakfast. We have to go by the Summer building to talk to the president.”

Laura smiles and waves to them both. “Yeah, no worries. I'll catch you-” the girl's voice stops as a loud growl comes out of her stomach. She quickly clamps a hand over it, smiling towards Perry, before her arm is taken and she's being dragged from the room.

“Now that will just not do!” Perry said, being sure to not hurt Laura, but making her follow behind her all the same. “You're coming too, Danny. We're all getting food this instant.”

LaF, who watched Perry pull Laura down the hall as they stayed in the room with Danny, looked over to the woman and shook their head with a smile. “That's Mama Perr,” they said before following suit.

A groan fills the air as Danny tilts her head back, her eyes closed, before following the trio down the hall to the cafeteria.

 

* * *

 

 

Laura's belly is so full, she doesn't think she can make it to the Summer's building. She could have sworn the walk wasn't so long, but she trudges on with Danny at her side. While the taller woman seemed annoyed to be spending so much time in the cafeteria and away from her duties, Laura still spotted the slight smiles on her lips whenever Perry would almost forcibly shove food down the poor girl's throat. Then she began to spout things like how Laura should eat better, or how she's not going to keep doing this so shape up and more that the journalist really tried to listen to. Maybe if Perry wasn't talking of lectures when she was trying to eat, Laura would have payed attention a bit better.

“You're like a stuffed turkey,” Danny comments as the Summer's building comes into view.

Laura can only groan, causing a rumbling laughter from Danny. It makes her smile but she said, “My suffering is not funny!”

“It's kind of funny.”

“Okay it's a bit funny. But you're not supposed to laugh at it!”

Danny shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly before whispering to Laura, “Are you sure the camera has to stay on in here? I don't think Mel's going to be very happy about it.”

“She can't kick me out, can she? I'm a witness!”

“A witness that saw the same things as me isn't really a witness, Laura.”

Laura scrunches up her face in the cute way Danny loves. “Semantics.”

Danny shakes her head but opens the door to the building without another word. There, as she thought she would find, is an angry Mel broodily sitting crossed legged on the stage. When she saw Danny, she was annoyed, but when she saw Laura it was like all the righteous fury came down from the heavens like a wrecking ball.

“You tell me about this newcomer and then no word for three hours!” Mel cried, flinging up her hands and getting up. Pacing the floor she doesn't give either a chance to speak, “What the hell was I supposed to think, Lawrence? That you had been taken next! That something else may have happened. What were you thinking? And why is she still filming!”

Laura, who had been not so sneakily pointing her camera up toward Mel the entire time, instantly dropped it down to her abdomen. She was still filming the woman, but at least it wasn't so obvious. Mel wasn't so stupid, however.

“Look I was going to come here as soon as possible,” Danny tried to explain, walking forward. She knew the president wasn't willing to hear what she had to say but she pressed on, “We checked out what the blood was from: an animal. An _unidentifiable_ animal.”

Mel's eyes slit as she looked to Danny, her head cocking and her finger going to her chin. “Unidentifiable,” she mutters more so to herself but the acoustics in the room were so amazing Laura could hear them by the door. “Could it have been the Sand?”

“Why would the Sand attack one of their own and leave that warning?” Danny asked, moving closer to Mel and further away from Laura.

“What if it wasn't a warning,” the journalist's meek voice rang out.

Mel looked closer to her before saying, “What do you mean?”

“Well,” Laura continued, walking toward both women with her camera slightly raised, “if it's so unlikely for these Sand people to hurt one another, maybe it's a set up or something.” She would have said more but something sparks in her memory from earlier. “Hold on,” she says, looking down to her camera before stopping the recording. Flicking back to moments before they left the building the first time, Laura quickly scampers over to the women and shows them the screen of her camera. “I'm not the only one seeing this, right?”

“Maybe you're not useless after all,” Mel breathed, her eyes pinned on the screen.

Danny is silent as she looked at the camera, her fist clenching at how close they both came. There, in the door way from earlier, was a black figure standing at odds against the sun filtering into the room. Where hair should have been, there were strange pointed triangles jutting out of the thing's head, and normal hands seemed gnarled and unnatural. Danny looked to Laura, really looked at her as the girl was enamored with the sight in front of her, and wondered what she would have done if that thing had come inside.

Pushing the thought back, the amazon said, “They've come early.”

Mel nodded, agreeing completely. “We'll figure out what's going on when they all arrive for the hunt.”

“And what if it's too late by then,” Danny asked, her eyes still locked on the still image of the beast.

“Well then I guess we'll just have to do what Summer's do best, now won't we, Lawrence.”

 

* * *

 

 

Danny sighed as she listened to Laura beside her speak of countless possibilities for the mystery beast in the doorway. Where most others would think it was terrifying, as one usually would when joining Silas, Laura seemed so desensitized by it, or just plane happy to have a scoop of the life time. Danny wasn't particularly excited for either one, but the way Laura kept lighting up as a new theory popped into her head was adorable to the extreme. It made Danny continue to nod her head in validation of any of Laura's theories, letting the girl know she was still listening and interested, but her entire body was tired.

Her mind still racked over the thing in the door. It had been so close to Laura today, so close to possibly harming the girl, and Danny could have done nothing about it. She was off lollygagging in the back looking for the keys, totally unaware of any danger that could have been lurking. Yes, for all intent and purposes there shouldn't have been any danger, but it still didn't stop the countless thoughts that filtered through her mind. If she had failed Laura in such a way, if she had let her get hurt even with a scratch, Danny doubted she could ever forgive herself for it. And yet still this tiny, dumb, little girl wasn't even thinking of how close she could have come to injury today. No, she was speaking of how awesome it was to see something so creepy.

Danny would probably never understand this girl, and for the life of her she hoped she never would.

“Oh, this is me,” Laura said as they almost passed her dorm room without noticing. They both stood there slightly awkwardly before she continues, “So while I wasn't expecting the whole uber creepy monster and blood sacrifices on the field, I... really had a nice day with you. I mean, filming with you, of course. You know, the project.”

Danny scoffs slightly before shaking her head. “Look, with the month coming to an end, things around the Society are going to get really hectic. I don't think you should put yourself in that craziness with me-”

“But I want to be in it with you!” Laura states, lowering her voice as she realized how late it was. Mel really did talk her ear off in the interrogation of what else she saw. She would seriously need a long nap after that. “I mean- you saw how I helped today, right? I can totally do that again. This camera and our brains working together, we'll figure out whatever creepy doodad is being caused and we'll fix it together. This is, like, any journalists dream!”

The urge to wrap the girl's hair back around her ear becomes too apparent in Danny as she realizes she's staring at Laura for too long. Clearing her throat, she replies, “Okay, fine. But if it gets too dangerous, please think about staying put, okay?”

“I will definitely think about.”

“Well I guess that's the best I can hope for,” Danny says lowly. Shaking her head, and patting Laura's arm with a fist, she continues, “Thank you, again, for coming out today. And choosing me as the person you're going to shadow. I don't think it's safe anymore for you to do that, but hey, you're your own woman.”

“So many people don't get that,” Laura jokes. “But... thank you for letting me shadow you and do this with you; even if Mel probably hates me. Okay, okay,” Laura says, putting her hands up in surrender, “tough love. I'm going to wear her down, you just watch!”

Danny laughs and, again, resists the urge not to give a goodnight kiss on Laura's cheek. Instead she turns slightly, showing her intention to leave. “After your classes you can meet up at the Summer's building. Just tell someone I sent you, and you should be fine.”

“You're not going to be there?”

“It's only if I'm late from my own classes,” she reassured.

Laura nods, holding onto her camera that is strapped about her neck. “I'll see you tomorrow then, Danny Lawrence.”

“I'll see you tomorrow, Laura Hollis.”

The two slowly depart from the other, one going into the door to her room with a flushed smile on her face, while another walked slowly back to her dorm, enjoying the fresh breeze on her face along with the warmth of happiness.

 


	3. The Preparation of Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annoying alarms, mysterious newcomers, and deadly miscommunications galore!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The number of people, the kudos, and the comment- you all have made me the happiest just by your acts. Thank you so much, and I hope you all enjoy the chapter.

Danny jolted awake in her single dorm room as her alarm blared by her head. Her bleary eyes tried to find it, a hand waving erratically around the sound to shut it off, and finally her head plopped back down and a sigh left her lips as the peacefulness of bird chirps encompassed her in the place of mindless noise. Cornflower blues peeked from behind a curtain of red towards the glaring numbers of the alarm clock before she hiked her elbows into her mattress to turn herself onto her back. She moaned lightly as she scratched her fingers through her hair, looking up at her ceiling, and she wondered if class really needed her today. It was her off day so no assisting the Literature department, but she did have actual class to attend and she continued to contemplate if one sick day could plausibly be taken.

She quickly decided against it seeing as she was supposed to meet Laura at the Summer's building later on that day, causing another set of groans to leave her lips. Pouting, Danny flipped back over again onto her belly, slamming her head down into her pillow, before kicking her feet aimlessly on the bed.

“You're an adult!” came the muffled yell from the pillow, and Danny slightly lifted her head to look at the alarm clock again. Pouting for a second time, she finally got up after seeing she had twenty minutes to get to class, and peeled herself away from her warm blankets. “You're an adult,” she whispered as she collected her outfit and walked into her bathroom.

The outfit was slightly damp seeing as Danny didn't have much time to dry herself completely for fear of being late to her first class of the day. Her hair cascaded around her shoulders, making her shiver as she bolted out of her room after putting on her shoes. Her varicolored shirt, the shoulders being a maroon color while the chest was white, dried completely before class, seeing as she sprinted the entire way there, though her hair was still in the process. It didn't much bother her how she looked, and as she walked into the class it didn't perturb anyone there either. It was one of the things the woman liked about college, especially university. Everyone was always so caught up in their own world, or asking themselves if this morning class was really worth it, instead of paying attention to the others around them. Not that Danny would notice a good many girls, and some boys, side eyeing her as she walked up the stairs to her seat and her legs in the shorts she sported.

Opening her laptop and pulling up her previous notes on the History class, Danny waited for the class to start. Closing her eyes, and cracking her neck, the woman lowered her head and brushed her fingers through her locks. Pulling her still wet hair into a ponytail for it to dry without notice, she tried her best to make sure there weren't any flyways before sighing silently and reading through her notes slowly. She had taken quite a lot last week, and she was glad for the refresher, though her thoughts were far from history. Instead of her brain recognizing the words she had wrote meticulously Danny was more adamant about seeing Laura's face on her screen at the moment. She was already looking forward to seeing the girl later on in the day, though the thought of having to go through two more classes almost had her walking back down the stairs and to the Summer's building to prepare.

Danny thought of the way she had basically sent Laura into a den of suspicious women, and she rather hoped Mel would vouch for her or the VP's own words were good enough. She knew the Sisters trusted her, but with the new sighting of a possible Sand, and the fact that the field was vandalized, Danny wondered if tensions would be too high in the Society. Laura, with her deadly camera, could be the outlet some of the Sisters needed in the wake of their fear. The thought alone made Danny shiver as she scrolled through her notes. She was trying desperately to read them over, but still instead of words she was seeing the way Laura's honey blonde hair fell below her shoulders. Laura's wide smile up at the amazon every time she made a joke or just talked about something interesting. The journalist was so energetic and _alive_ , it made Danny envy such passionate looks on life regardless if she had it herself.

She bit her lip, brushing the swoop of fallen hair that had not made it into the pony tail behind her ear, as she thought of Laura's safety. Danny had always been the protector, always cared deeply for those around her, but Laura was different. She didn't seem to want anyone to smother her, but she was still too new to the world to understand what was safe and good for her. At least that's what Danny's initial thought was. The second thought was a rebuttal for the first, completely dismantling it before building it back again. Laura was young, and she didn't know the way of the world, but she was smart enough to ask for help when it was needed. Even if she didn't seem to show it, Danny had to think the girl understand the exact danger she could be in. The reassurance the woman gave her last night after the indication of fear was a sign of that. If she was hesitant of being alone among the Sisters, it had to mean she thought of the possible outcomes before and just hadn't said anything. Laura was young, but she wasn't stupid. Danny had to realize that, and through this she would need to remember Laura made her a promise that she would get out if things got too bad. Or, at least, that's what she kept telling herself as she scrolled through her notes.

“Okay, class, let's begin!”

“...Oh crap,” Danny whispered, her eyes closing, as she mentally prepared herself for the lecture of a life time.

 

* * *

 

 

Laura was moving through her day with determination and a smile on her face. She had woken up at her regular time, gotten in a shower, and had gotten out of her dorm with time to spare. She was amazed and hopeful to go see the Summer's after her classes, and nothing could stop the pep in her step! Okay, so she was a little sad she didn't have her Literature class that day because seeing Danny before she went to see the Sisters would have probably been really helpful, but Laura pressed onward through her classes nonetheless. She was more so running through the motions than really listening to anything, though she got great notes from her Math and Art Appreciation courses.

When she walked into her last class of the day, Criminal Justice, which was more of an elective she wanted to take to familiarize herself with a prime role all journalists needed, she was almost jumping out of her seat. So much so, in fact, that the girl next to her gave her a strange look before picking up her books and moving away from the freshman. Laura cleared her throat, looking around like a kid who had just broken a vase, before hiding herself behind her hair as she looked down at her notes.

“Is this seat taken?”

“Hmm, what now?” Laura asked back.

Being so engrossed in her books, Laura hadn't realized a girl standing right beside her. Looking up, the first thing she noticed was the girl's height. It wasn't quite close to Danny's but it was far above Laura's meager five feet and a couple inches, and she had to bend her head a good ways upward. Her face was narrow, yet plump, and if Laura understood the female anatomy a little more she would have probably said the girl's cheekbones could cut glass. The newcomers black hair was secured in a tight ponytail and Laura noticed her nails were perfectly clipped down. She wore minimal makeup, though her natural beauty shined just the same, and Laura realized after letting out a breath that she had been holding it.

“Y-yeah, sure!” she suddenly said, waving an arm downward to the seat next to her.

A perfect smile flashed back to her as the girl sat, putting her backpack to her right side and away from Laura's seat, before she turned to place her book and other utensils down onto the desk. She wore plain clothes, a simple long sleeved t-shirt hiked to above her elbows and loose fitting jeans, and she wore studded earrings. It didn't escape Laura that she also had a studded nose ring and, if she wasn't mistaken, a tattoo of some kind poked out from the shirt's collar. Laura's thoughts were put on hold as the girl offered out a hand to her, breaking her out of her reverie.

“Thank you for the seat and the hospitality. I did not think this class would fill up so quickly!”

Taking the mysterious girl's hand quickly, Laura responded, “Of course! My first day here I got stuck all the way in front because no one wanted to be called on by Professor Lane. Surprise for them, I'm a total nerd.” The girl laughed as Laura's eyes widened, her eyes closing as she whispered, “Oh my gosh, did I really just say that?”

Letting go of her hand, the girl cocked her own and shrugged her shoulders. “Yes, you really just did. Do not worry, I will not hold it against you. You will not mind me finding a seat with you next time around, no? I believe nerds are the best medicine.”

Laura waved her arm dismissively of the girl's nice words, a ghost smile on her lips, before she quirked her brow. “Is this your first day of university? Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking.”

“All these years and I still have it.” The “it” she must have been referring to was the accent, though it was only truly prominent when she said her “r's”. Most people noticed in her proper way of speaking without contractions though she didn't seem to take offense to Laura being so blatant towards her. “I am rather new to Silas, yes. I hope to stay here for a few months, or even years, until I transfer out again. I was born in Italy, a small province that settled itself in Roma after birth. My name is Sabine Lara Pales,” she finished, bowing her head slightly as she introduced herself fully.

Slightly struck at the introduction of Sabine's full name, Laura gave off a smile before saying, “It's very nice to meet you, Sabine. I'm Laura Hollis and I'd be glad to show you around Silas when you've got the time! It's the least I could do since a bonafide tour guide helps out tons when trying to maneuver around the school.”

Sabine nodded, her dark orbs never leaving Laura's lighter hazel. “Silas _is_ massive! The school I came from is but a blip compared to this. There seems to be so much to do as well, so much to learn. I am very interested in the Biology department that was advertised.”

Laura's face lit up at the mention of one of her friend's favorite thing to talk about and almost blurted, “If you want to know more about the Bio labs, I can introduce you to LaFontaine! Sh-” stopping herself, Laura thought it over for a moment before tentatively continuing, “-they could talk your ear off for days. And they're always in need of more lab buddies.”

“Then I will be happy to be introduced to this person,” Sabine said enthusiastically before opening up her notebook.

The journalist thought over the pronoun usage for LaF momentarily as Sabine began setting up for the class to begin. She didn't really know, or had been around them long enough, to know if they were truly gender neutral, but she also didn't want to offend or give the wrong impression to a guest she was about to take into LaF's home away from home. Laura promised herself she would ask the preferred pronouns next they met so she wouldn't have to assume anymore, though with the aversion to their first name of Susan that Perry would slip up and say sometimes, Laura was sure she was guessing correctly.

As she nodded to herself about her recent thoughts, Laura finally looked over to Sabine's neat workstation and almost gasped. The girl's handwriting was exquisite and everything around her was set up in neat and orderly fashion. It amazed Laura seeing as she had a half eaten roll of cookies sitting next to her notebook that she had already gotten crumbs on. Embarrassed, she quickly swatted the remnants away before clearing her throat and linking her fingers together. Glancing over again, she saw Sabine's lips pulled into a smirk, and Laura was jokingly going to ask what it meant before the teacher took her podium and class had already begun.

 

* * *

 

 

“Okay, so this is the bio lab and, if you follow me, I'll introduce you to LaF,” an excited Laura Hollis said as Sabine followed her into the Biology building after class.

Most of Criminal Justice was catching Sabine up to date on what was going on, though there were weird moments when the transfer student would correct the teacher as if what was being taught was wrong. It would always be followed up by a smile, a shrug, and then a glance at Laura to continue copying notes and Laura would brush it off as Sabine just reading too many books with differing information. At the end of said class, Laura had promised to show Sabine the Bio lab as soon as possible, promising she'd take her on a tour of the campus some other day. The brunette seemed to be fine with Laura's prior engagement, and the way her face lit up after stepping foot into such a pristine, white, and sterile environment was calming.

Sabine nodded as Laura spoke, her hand on the door, and the two traversed inside without knocking. LaFontaine was sitting at their regular desk, though this time there were a few more students doing assignments who seemed to ask the bio major an absurd amount of questions, and as Laura and Sabine walked in they looked up from their microscope.

Where once was a passing glance became a full out happy appearance, and LaF opened their arms as if to give Laura an air hug. “What's the occasion, Laur? You find out where- oh, hey,” LaF said, cutting themselves off, as they noticed Sabine standing behind Laura.

The transfer student waved sheepishly before saying, “Hello, it is nice to meet you.”

“This is Sabine, and she's a transfer student!” Laura was far too happy about this, LaF was sure to note but the girl continued, “She's really big into the Bio department, and while I would love to show her around, I kinda already have somewhere I need to be. Sooo...”

“Yeah, sure,” LaF said, not even giving off a sigh as they did. “Pull up a chair and tell me what you wanna know.”

Sabine did just that, leaving Laura's side in a heartbeat before picking up a chair with ease and putting it next to LaFontaine. “Seeing as I can already tell the difference from an animal's blood and human's blood, I wanted to see the effects of combining the two with different catalysts. I have tried to build different devices to make this process easier, but every time I believe I am successful, the blood begins to decay.”

LaF, who had already been looking down back into their scope, slowly- and Laura was almost creeped out about how slowly- raised back up to look at Sabine. A huge smile took over LaF's features as they said, “You definitely should have led with that, Sabine- right? So tell me more about these devices. We've got a pretty extensive lab here at Silas, so I'm pretty sure whatever you had can totally be duplicated again.”

“Okay, well, I guess I'll just... go then,” Laura said as Sabine turned her full attention to LaFontaine, both of their bodies pointing directly towards each other attentively.

“Bye, Laura,” LaFontaine said absently, their hand waving.

Shaking her head, turning around, Laura groaned. “What have I done?”

It didn't stay on her mind for long as she breathed the cool air outside and realized where she was going next. She was glad to have met Sabine, but why did it have to be today of all days? Laura wished she could have one day showing the girl around the school since she was one of the firsts, besides LaFontaine and, to some extent, Perry that didn't flee on sight from the nerd to the zillionth level. Laura embraced the word imposed on her by others with stride, and of course she knew that just because she was really into her studies it didn't make it automatically bad, though it still detracted some from hanging about her because of her relentless classes taken and the piles of homework done for studying. Still, those that stayed were worth keeping, and a part of Laura hoped Sabine was one of them. She was so aloof and mysterious and cool, Laura just had to know her story!

But first thing was first! She had to get to the Summer's building so she could continue her journalism project. Laura really hoped Danny would be there when she arrived, her uncertainty of the Summers and their possible slip into WTF mode far too apparent. She wasn't positive, but her initial thoughts that all the girls were far above five foot, seven inches, was probably going to turn out to be true, and that meant she would be the shortest person in the room. She was usually that, Laura had to admit, but something was different about the Sisters since they seemed like they could totally break her in half like a twig if they really wanted to. They were all so toned and trained, it was a wonder how Laura stopped herself from swooning at the very sight of them all.

Speaking of them all, the journalist realized as she walked to the opened door of the building that she was, in fact, looking into rows upon rows of girls. As Danny said the previous day, they didn't use any chairs, though Laura doubted they needed any since they were all standing. They seemed rather heated, and it didn't take her long to overhear they were talking about the field from yesterday. Immediately, hoping to not miss anything, Laura got out her camera and began filming from the alcove to the left of the door. She was standing in such a way that only those from the front of the room could possibly see her or her camera, though there was no one actually looking her ways except for Mel who was standing on the makeshift stage at the front.

“Listen to me, Sisters,” she yelled out, her arms raising into the air and lowering downward as if to calm the others. It worked because the cacophony of voices simmered and then died out. “We don't know if it was truly an organized attack from the Sand who did this, or if we've got a rouge on our hands. You all know that I am one to fight and ask questions later, but if we provoke a fight when our Sisters get here-”

“They are not our Sisters!” a voice from the crowd screamed, before a fist went up to emphasis the point. It seemed to spark a chorus from some of the other women, they taking up the chant with their own. “Monsters!” some screamed. “Screw them all!” others yelled.

Laura filmed it all, uncertain if she should try to find Danny in all of this, but knowing deep down the amazon would not be there. If she was she'd be on the stage with Mel trying to calm down her Sisters. The journalist really hoped she would get here soon because it didn't seem like the chaos in the room was going to be satiated until Mel did something drastic or the meeting was ended.

She bit her lip, looking around to hope to see Danny, before her body jolted as someone came up right behind her.

“A little Sand spy, are ya?” a hot breath asked in her ear.

“I-I'm not-” Laura tried to say, her entire body being lifted for a split second as she was moved against her will. She was glad her camera was always securely around her neck, though in this situation she wished she could hide it from view as she was half pushed, half carried into the large building.

A plethora of different colored eyes were suddenly on her as the commotion at the door escalated. She had no idea there could be so many people that had a mixture of fear and anger in their eyes until they were all pinned on her. A murmur that was low at first but reached a dull whispered yell broke out into the building as Laura was escorted violently to the front. It consisted of “Spy” and “Sand” but that was all she caught before she was pushed to her knees by a heavy hand on her shoulder.

Looking up to Mel, who seemed just as shocked- if not angry- as Laura was, the latter girl splayed her hands and whispered, “Sorry.”

It made the president sigh heavily before screaming out, “Enough!” Her voice was loud, cutting off the Sisters in the room far more effectively than the first time. She looked to Laura again before slowly walking over to them both. Placing a hand onto the Sisters' own shoulder, she whispered in her ear calmly, though Laura could see the tightening of the woman's jaw and, from the nails biting into her shoulder, she could tell she wasn't being offered a plate of cookies.

The Sister then let Laura go quickly, stepping back and crossing her hands behind her back, before Mel pulled the journalist up to her feet. She looked out towards the women in the hall before yelling out, “This girl is under the watchful eyes of our Sister, Danny Lawrence! If anyone has a problem with her, you will go through your Vice President and _me_.” The room was still calm and Mel continued after looking to see if anyone would try to refute her, “She is the one that has helped our Sister confirm that this was not of our doing, but a possible Sand's. She has done more than anyone here has achieved thus far! And, need I remind you, she is a part of the Silas student body which garners our protection under any circumstances. That is the way of the Society. That is the way of our Sisters. That is the way of our cause!”

Mel's words drifted down into the mass of women standing before her, the silence in the room almost deafening. Laura didn't know what to do. She didn't know if she was supposed to talk, to assuage the women that she was, in fact, not a spy but trying to help. Or if Mel's words were enough to keep her safe from a hail of insults or bruises she was bound to get with the looks from the Sisters in the room.

Her answer came when a random woman yelled from amongst the crowd, “Then why is she filming us!”

Before another uprising could occur, Laura stepped in for herself, “I-I'm a journalist! I'm shadowing Danny for a story I'm doing. My name is Laura Hollis!”

“That's right, she was the one Lawrence mentioned yesterday,” someone said closer to the middle section of women. It seemed to carry, like most did, throughout the crowd, seeming to calm it to an insane degree.

Mel patted Laura's back, glad to have the tensions die at least for now, before she stepped up and said, “I know we're all worried about the upcoming Harvest. But if we turn on each other now, without knowing all of the information, then we're just the dumb primates they think we are. We have to stick together through this, and I promise we'll find out what happened. If anyone sees anything suspicious, you do _not_ act! You get the information, don't put yourself in any possible danger, and you come to Lawrence or myself. Pull your resources, Sisters. If need be, find Laura. She's already proven she's worthy of our cause. Is that understood?”

A bout of “Yes” and “Aye” filled the room slowly, before gaining momentum and strength as time progressed. Mel nodded her head, looking back to Laura before shaking her head at how foolish she had been for sneaking around when they were all on high alert. She could see what Lawrence saw in her, though that didn't mean there wasn't a foolish side stuck in there somewhere too. It made the president worried for the future, though as she turned back towards her Sisters, seeing Danny run into the building quickly, she put it out of her mind. Nodding to her Vice President, Mel went to the edge of the stage and dangled her legs off it so that she may be closer to her fellow Sisters.

Danny frantically ran through the crowd up towards the stage. Clambering up onto it, she practically grabbed Laura's shoulders and asked, “Are you alright?”

Laura laughed shakily, waving the woman off, before replying, “Of course I'm alright! Nothing at all to worry about. Totally A-okay.”

Cornflower blue orbs looked Laura over again before Danny's body retreated. “I'm sorry I was so late. Bio held me up since it was dissecting day. Did you know LaF practically runs that part of class? I didn't think a first year could, but here we are.”

Seeing how frantic Danny seemed to be before devolving into cute, adorable, mumbling talk was a highlight of Laura's day. Though she didn't want Danny to worry about her, especially since everything worked out just fine, she was glad to see the amazon wasn't too upset. Though that was probably because she didn't know the full details, but Laura could tell her that... later, of course.

Now she laughed, her eyes darting to Mel and the Sisters talking lowly, as she said, “If my journalism class needed some help, or Professor Cochrane wanted it, I would definitely be just like LaFontaine. I'm sure they probably talked your ear off on how to properly dissect the frog, huh.”

Danny gave a miserable look, undeniably confirming Laura's rhetorical question. It made both of the girl's laugh, though the amazon only snorted, before the woman chewed her bottom lip. “I'm really glad you're okay now, Laura. I was thinking over how I shouldn't have even made you come here alone and-”

“Hey,” Laura said, cutting her friend off before patting her arm. “Nothing even happened and I'm okay! And you didn't _make_ me do anything, okay? You can't really blame yourself for something I choose to do. And I give my scouts honor that I will totally not blame you after I do something stupid; ooo and I promise you'll never be my scapegoat if I happen to eat the Sister's cookies without permission.”

“Now you're just being ridiculous,” Danny said, covering up her smile with a hand.

“Those are pretty serious allegations! Could you imagine the anarchy?” Laura blew out a breath, shaking her head and smiling. “Complete anarchy.”

Danny shook her head again, snorting out a laugh. “They don't need me here right now. You want to go to the caf'? I'll get you a cookie,” she added, seeing Laura's sudden change in appearance and not wishing for a no. She was glad she had because the girl's face lit up again before a happy set of nods were set in motion.

“Will we come back here after?”

“Yeah, of course. But first we'll need some energy, even if it's just polysyllabic chemicals that are extremely bad for you.” Danny said, her hand on Laura's back as they began walking down from the stage.

“But you can't deny their deliciousness!” Laura retorts, feeling Danny's burning hand through her clothes. She's pretty sure she's making it so much more than it is, it's just a regular hand, but wowie was it really warm exactly where she was touching her. It totally wasn't attraction making her think that or something.

Danny gave one last look to Mel before she left the building, confirming she was going to come back in less than thirty minutes, before turning back to Laura as they got out of the area and onto the lawn. “Shall we, Hollis?” she asked, coming up to the girl's side before bending slightly and presenting her bent arm for Laura to hold onto.

“We shall!” the girl said, slipping her hand into the crook of the bent arm and letting her fingers curl around Danny's biceps. _Oh wow, they're so big. Oh my goodness, stop it, Hollis, you're practically drooling!_

“After we'll need to compare notes. Try to find out what's happening here.”

Laura, who was definitely not drooling, nodded her head frantically. “Yeah, I agree! We're going to crack this thing before anything else bad happens.”

“I hope you're right, Laura.” _I really hope you're right._

As the two walked happily away from their problems and towards the cafeteria, laughing and joking the entire way there, a mysterious figure sat atop the Summer's building with carmine eyes watching them go. The figure's leg dangled down the slates of the side of the structure, seeming to be uncaring of the several feet drop, and a wide smile appeared on its face the more and more it watched the two love birds walk and talk. How it was going to love causing mayhem to this wretched school and, it decided as it raised to its feet before disappearing in the blink of an eye, how it'll love tearing the pretty ginger's head from her shoulders in front of her little lover girl. Oh yes, that was a perfect thought indeed.

 


	4. The Day in the Life of Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer factions and javelins, and working, oh my!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're at 7 kudos and 72 hits, guys! Thank you so much for everything y'all are doing for this story, and I hope you enjoy this new chapter.
> 
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> Also if you guys want to follow my bts flailing and comments on this work, you can follow me at leonard-cohen-the-second on Tumblr or search #tyra writes finding summer/ the summers or #tyra writes hollence

The stars were in Danny's eyes as she watched Laura delicately choose what she was going to eat for lunch. The hungry girl was picking up her second bag of chips from the counter before looking at the other options, sucking the bottom of her lip as she made the tough decisions. Danny merely watched, a smirk on her lips, as her wandering eyes passed over Laura with no care to hide. The journalists' hair was pulled to the side today, the ponytail reaching down below her shoulder, and she wore a tank top that showed off her collarbones nicely. Her pants were folded neatly up to above her ankles, and they were rather snug, showing off Laura's figure.

These were not the things Danny had eyes on, however, and cornflower blues were stuck wandering the crevices, blemishes, and canvas of Laura's face. The girl before her was so soft, so naive to the ways of the world, and the tug in Danny's heart was all too apparent as she allowed herself the moment of reprieve from the day's coming events. She was strong too, the amazon thought as she watched Laura pick up her third packed cookie before smiling down to her. Maybe it was because she was a journalist, or maybe it was because she was too dumb to see the danger she was making her bed in, or maybe, just maybe, she was the strongest girl Danny had ever laid eyes on because of _who_ she was.

“Okay,” Laura said, proudly showing off her handful of choices.

Danny looked over them, moving her body slightly to get a good look at all options, before she quirked her brow and said, “Might I suggest an apple?”

Laura furrowed her temple, looking down at her selections. “Why?”

“Two bags of chips, three packs of cookies, and one grape soda doesn't constitute a healthy snack.”

“I don't think I need your negativity in my life,” Laura said playfully, moving all of the items to the crook of her left arm. Grabbing a crisp and healthy looking apple, she looked up towards Danny as she presented it to her. “Better?”

“Much.” Danny snorted, shaking her head, before turning towards the checkout area. She had already placed all of her things on the counter, pulled out her wallet, before her gaze fell on Laura. Nodding her head toward the cashier, she waited until a reluctant journalist's food was up on the surface before money was presented. Turning away, and trying hard to ignore the look of fondness in Laura's eyes, Danny proceeded to ask, “So what all happened with the Summers before I came in?”

They found a spot quickly, Laura running over to one while Danny followed with her long legs, before sitting and munching on their food. It took the girl a moment to chew her cookie slowly, gathering the thoughts for the best way to tell Danny without her worrying even more or holding herself culpable for not being there on time. If there was one thing Laura did not want to do, it was have Danny blame herself again.

“Well the reason why they thought I was a spy at first was because, well, instead of going into the building I started... taking footage of them through the door. I know, I know,” Laura said, her body swaying as a look of defeat passed over her, “I definitely shouldn't have done that since the Summers were on high alert. But for consolation I did get great footage to go in my project!”

“Laura, you could have gotten really hurt. If the Summers thought you were a Sand or-”

The hand Laura held up stopped Danny in her tracks. “Okay, so I shouldn't have done it, but the reward was way better than possibly of being shanghaied to the underground torture chamber. You don't have those, right?”

A melodious laugh was heard in the place of an answer as big eyes looked up with suspicion. Danny quieted, her hand over her lips, before it was placed onto the table and patted. “Not at that building we don't.” She chuckled again when Laura's eyes got even bigger, a curse resounding from her when she realized her camera wasn't on. “Don't worry,” Danny continued, “I wouldn't let you stay there for long. Not really my kink.”

 _What is your kink?_ Laura cleared her throat, keeping the thought far from her tongue, and instead asked, “So you keep talking about different Summers, especially these Sand people. When I was with the Sisters they didn't seem very keen on calling them siblings. Why's that?”

Danny's eyes watched Laura taking out her camera and placing it on the table facing her. It was turned on while the question was being asked, and the woman scratched the back of her head before moving in a bit closer. “The Summers of Silas aren't the _only_ Summer factions out there in the world. Technically there are five, though the fifth one was destroyed in a plague that ravaged the school- long story. Something about releasing the gates of hell or something,” Danny said, waving her head to convey her thoughts of the unknown. “So the rest of the four are held together by different races.”

“Races?”

“Yeah like how the Silas Summers here are all human.” She takes a deep breath before continuing, “So this sounds crazy-”

“Silas is pretty crazy,” Laura cuts in. “Don't worry, I believe you already.”

 _So understanding..._ “Thanks. The Sand faction is from one of Silas' sister schools. All factions are from schools that operate under Silas, and are, for the most part, called Silas University by their student body. The factions just usually go by numbers of when they were built though. This Silas is number four, the fifth Silas that was eradicated was- you guessed it- number five, and so on. The Summers have this theory that this school might go through a similar plague extinction event like the fifth, but I just think the girl's want some horror cliché to happen so they can get out of class.” Danny clears her throat, noticing Laura is captivated by every word. “Anyways, the Polar faction is from Silas One. The Vapor faction is from Silas Two. And the Sand faction is from Silas Three.”

“What name does your faction go by?” Laura asked, finally cutting in.

“Our faction is called... the Reaping.”

“Why something so ominous?”

Danny chuckled taking a swig from her water. “The other factions are a lot older than ours. They didn't really like the whole idea of humans coming into their ranks. So while they had names associating them with the weather pattern of their season, we got named something from the physical and brash part of ours.”

“I thought the naming was more on the location the Silas schools were built in,” Laura said, her voice light with contemplation.

“It's 'Sand'. That one always screws people over into thinking that,” Danny replied, trying to assuage the journalist. “No, the four factions are named after the the yearly seasons. Polar is for Winter while Vapor is for Spring. Sand wanted to be different even though they're connected to Summer, and- you guessed it- our season is-”

“Autumn. The reaping that comes with the harvesting of grains.” Laura nodded her head, happy she wasn't holding her camera so she could be a little messy with eating her second cookie.

Danny dipped her head before stuffing her face quickly before she was asked to explain more.

“You said earlier that the other factions are held together by different races,” Laura said after awhile, giving Danny time she deserved to eat. “Human is safely removed from that list, so what other races are there?”

Brushing off her hands, Danny continued, “Polar are-”

“Hello, Laura Hollis. It is nice to see you again,” a voice came from behind Danny.

The amazon quickly turned her head in the direction of the speaker before her brain processed the images there. The woman, who was probably just below her own height, wore a long fitting gray t-shirt with booty shorts that didn't much cover anything. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail and sunglasses were housed at the top of her head securely. The woman's red converse matched Danny's own, though what didn't match was the studded nose ring and minimal jewelry. Danny watched Laura get up quickly, the chair skidding back as she did, though the girl only stood there.

“Oh hi, Sabine! I didn't know you came... to the... cafeteria.” An awkward laugh left Laura's lips and out of the corner of her eye she could see Danny hiding her mouth with a hand, obviously laughing. In another situation, Laura would have probably swatted her with a smile on her own features, but her attention was grabbed by the newcomer again.

“I am just here before class begins. Professor Cochrane does not like to be kept waiting nor does she enjoy students eating in her class.”

“Wait, you take journalism with Professor Cochrane?”

Sabine seemed to notice Laura's surprise and smiled. “Oh yes! Besides Biology, journalism is a large passion of mine. I could not get into her first class, so I am thankful she teaches 101 on Thursdays as well.”

Excitement washed over Laura as the woman continued to talk. It was so rare to find someone outside of a favorite class, just to learn they take it too. Looking down at Danny, forgetting for a moment the amazon was even there, Laura shook her head as if to wake herself before clearing her throat. “Oh Sabine, this is Danny Lawrence! She's my Literature TA and also the Vice President of the Summer Society.”

Danny looked up, nodding her head before replying, “It's really nice to meet you.”

Sabine nodded back, a smirk on her lips, as she looked down to Danny. “I have heard great things of the Summer Society. You have done your part to make it the best it could possibly be, yes?”

“For the three years I've been here, I hope I have.” She straightened after noticing Sabine's stature. “You should come by one of these days. The Society is always looking for new members. You look like you've got just the right chops for it too.” A friendly smile creeped onto her face as she said her peace, hoping Laura wouldn't mind Danny stealing away her new acquaintance.

“Perhaps I shall,” Sabine responded happily. “I am always looking for things to occupy my time away from class.” She looked at the two women before bowing lightly. “It is time for me to be off. I will see you in Justice, Laura. Or who knows, maybe even sooner.” A wink was thrown Laura's way before Sabine turned, giving a small wave to Danny as well, before she walked out of the cafeteria.

Laura cleared her throat, averting her eyes, as she slowly sat back down again. “I am definitely going to have to edit that later,” she whispered, her head down.

“Only your third week and already got a girl hitting on you; pretty awesome, Hollis,” Danny joked, tilting her head in approval.

“What- no!” Laura snorted, making “pftt” sounds as she flung her hands into the air. In her mind she wasn't thinking of Sabine's possible affection but of the woman's in front of her. However, instead of analyzing exactly what Danny said, she continued, “Besides, I can't think about that now, you were just going to tell me about the juicy stuff!”

Just as Danny opened her mouth to speak, a “bing” came from her pocket. After fishing it out, the amazon shrugged. “Looks like it'll have to wait. You should bring that with you so you can munch during the day.”

“Why, where are we going?” Laura asked, already getting her things together to take.

“Mel just texted,” Danny said, falling in step with Laura as they walked out of the cafeteria. “Seems like you'll see the whole nine yards of what it means to be in the Summer Society.”

Laura almost jumped into the air with exhilaration. “This is gonna be so cool!”

 

* * *

 

 

By the time Danny and Laura found themselves near the field, the latter could already hear that things were in full swing. Mel was clapping her hands towards the other girl's, giving off encouragements and the like as the girl's ran through the obstacle course. Others were practicing their javelin throwing skills, while still others were firing steel tipped arrows towards human dummies on the other side of the field.

“Come on,” Mel screamed, her index finger pointing back the way most of the girls had come from. “You've got a Sister down, you do not just leave her!” Almost immediately as the words left her mouth, skid marks appeared in the dirt as the Sisters turned and ran towards their slower companion. It looked like she had twisted her ankle and just needed to walk it off, though Mel continued, “How can you fight for this university if you don't even realize one of your own Sisters needs your help?”

A synchronized reply came, “We can't!”

“So what do you do to stop that?”

“Get better!”

Another plethora of claps came as Mel egged the women on to continue the course. Her head turned as she acknowledged the two walking up.

“Hollins will need to sit out the next part, maybe put her on archery duty for now,” Danny said, looking at the wounded Sister now being carried fireman style.

“Already done, Lawrence. You gonna show them how it's done?”

Danny shrugged. “Maybe. If we've got a possible spy around, why are we showing ourselves off like this?”

Mel continued to look out towards the Sisters and their struggle with the obstacle course. If Laura didn't know any better, she was sure the two Summers were trying to make it seem as if they weren't actually talking about anything of value.

“Newbies on the course,” Mel began. “Second years on archery duty, and third years on javelin. We're showing them what we can do. Make them think twice about doing anything foolish before their backup arrives. Haven't even shown them what fourth years can do- secret weapon and all.”

Danny nodded, her arms coming up as she hugged herself. “And if that doesn't work?”

“Well then it's good we're practicing for the Harvest now isn't it.”

It wasn't a question and Danny didn't dream of answering. Instead she looked to Laura and tilted her head towards the field. “Everything you were hoping for?”

“And more!” Laura cried, her camera already filming everything before her.

A surge of something flew up Danny's stomach and chest and the gorgeous smile was so bright, she was sure those from across the field could see. Cracking her knuckles and stretching her arms, Danny winked towards Laura as she indicated for her to follow. Onward they both went, one physically more excited than the other, until they came upon the javelin area. The women there were throwing the spears away from the obstacle course towards the direction of the building miles away. Watchful hazel orbs took in humanoid dummies also set up in the grassy area, and almost all of them had javelins poking out of their stomachs, heads, or chests.

“You're going to do this?” Laura whispered to Danny as the latter rolled her head in preparedness.

“It's my specialty,” Danny replied. She was happy she chose a long sleeved shirt that naturally came above her elbows, and she nodded her head in thanks to one of her Sisters as they gave her a spear.

Now this was home, Danny thought as she felt the wind blow her hair softly. The smell of grass, the sound of girl's giving their all at the course and the thwapping of arrows hitting solid forms. The weighted spear in her hand was so familiar, so nice, and it reminded Danny of the first time she tried to throw it. Mel had been the Vice President back then, her passion for the girl's to do even greater still apparent, and she wasn't easy on Danny at all. She had yelled at her constantly, especially with the javelin courses, egging her on to be better. To be greater. She could still hear Mel's voice in her head to this day and as Danny gripped the spear and let her eyes roll over the many targets, a smile formed on her face.

The familiarity of it was what Laura saw now too. The journalist didn't miss a beat, capturing all of Danny's emotions on camera in a beautiful angle so that the sun was behind her. She didn't realize she was holding her breath as she stared upwards towards the woman's haloed visage until Danny made a move to get into a better stance. She reminded her of Hercules, Laura thought, as she remembered the iconic scene of the demigod fighting tooth and nail against a cyclops. Well, she sure thought Danny was a lot more attractive than Kevin Sorbo as her body elongated and her arm pulled back.

Danny let out a slow breath as she concentrated on the dummy in front of her. It was further away than what the other girls were aiming at, way farther, and as she pointed her foot forward and arched her body, the wind blew at just the right moment. Laura almost lost it when this happened, practically hitting herself in the face with her camera with how fast she was pulling it to her face, before taking aim and snapping a plethora of photos. Danny's hair whipped behind her, she had put it up in a pony tail earlier that day- at Laura's breathtaking notice, and her stance was gorgeous. Almost immediately from the first foot forward, Danny had released the javelin in hand and Laura caught its amazing curved descent with her camera. It noticeably went higher than the other Summer's spears and there was a small noise after it struck into the dummy's collarbone.

Laura was completely awestruck, her camera lowered slightly as she took in the scene before her, while she faintly heard the other Sisters nodding their heads and patting Danny's back with agreement of her prowess. It was such a simple act, but the journalist was flabbergasted. The smooth precision from point A to point B was quite astonishing, and she had never seen anything so meticulous and grand. Of course she watched the Olympics and had pressed her nose so hard against the screen when anything like such a sport was being shown, but being right next to a woman who knew her business was... just breathtaking. And, Laura thought slyly, she was sure that throw would have broken any record set by the Olympic gold champions without Danny so much as breaking a sweat.

Swallowing hard, her mouth dry since she had it opened for so long, Laura turned to Danny as the woman moved over to her with a smile on her face. It was like the entire sun shone in that smile, the vast world's beautiful refrain held in that one simper, Laura thought before dipping her head and rolling her eyes. Looking back up into cornflower blue orbs, Laura shrugged her shoulders and smiled widely. “I-I can't even _believe_ that! That was- oh my gosh, Danny!”

“Well, I have to say I wasn't expecting that,” the amazon responded. She continued to smile, a little nervous now with Laura's attention she was receiving, before her hand went to the back of her neck and she worked at the muscles there. “You think you're up for a go?”

Laura's eyes went wide as she looked back towards the Sisters who were still throwing- and noticed some who were trying with all their might to beat out Danny's score- before quickly shaking her head. A smile was on her face to undercut any negative response, “No-o way! I don't think I'd get five feet away from me if I threw something like that. If you wanted me to teach yoga, now that I can do.”

Danny let out a small laugh, her eyes moving across the field before quickly moving back to Laura. She cleared her throat, her laughter still rocking her body before she replied, “Okay, how about trying archery? It's a lot easier and those yoga arms would be able to pull the string back effortlessly. No one will be hurt in the exercising of physical force!” Danny had valiantly placed her two fingers up as if to promise such a thing, making Laura giggle.

“Okay,” the journalist finally agreed. “I'll try it but you're going to seriously think of my proposition to show the Sisters yoga.”

“Deal!” Danny said happily.

Grabbing Laura's arm gently, the woman led her over to the opposite side of the obstacle course were Mel was still standing. The girl continued to film the Sisters battling the rigorous barriers in their way, glad to see that the one girl known as Hollins was nowhere to be seen, before her attention was directed toward the archery range. It was much larger than she had thought it was on the opposite side of the field, and Laura stared unabashedly towards the women hitting the bulls-eye on the dummy's heads and chests. She saw the injured Summer girl from earlier and was glad to see Danny was leading them over to her.

The girls dirty blonde hair was tied back into a tight bun, almost as if she were in the military, and her brown eyes were on the target as she aimed. Laura noticed that there was no traditional garb that was required in the Summer's and the freshman seemed to take that into consideration when picking out her wardrobe. It was mostly muted colors ranging from blue to black, but they looked worn and slightly ragged. The journalist immediately began thinking up a story of what these small details could possibly mean in the Sister's home life, but was stopped as they arrived right in front of her.

“Hollins,” Danny said, patting the girl on the shoulder.

The freshman looked up at her Vice President and almost lost it, trying with all her might to get up from the stump she had been sitting on. Danny quickly told her to stay seating, giving off a dazzling smile as encouragement, before the girl finally quieted in the official's presence. “It's an honor,” she said after a moment, looking up to Danny as if she were a literal goddess.

“I'm just an ordinary Sister,” Danny reassured softly, looking over to Hollins' dummy. “Off your feet and still hitting the target perfectly. I think we've found a new calling for you; what do you think?”

“R-really?” The hope in the freshman's voice was so... real, it just about broke Laura's heart. She seemed like someone who only had this place, who was merely striven to get some type of praise for her actions when she had none elsewhere. The hopeful gaze she cast upon Danny made Laura think this, not that she knew of course, but she filmed it all the same. This was raw emotion, so real that Laura had wondered what the word even meant prior to this, and she was completely enamored when Danny kneeled down.

“Of course, Hollins. What you're doing here is an amazing feat, something that someone else would have just given up at right when they twisted their foot. But here you are, still going strong in the Society and still doing your best. And if this is your best,” Danny said, waving her hand towards the dummy, “then I can't wait to see you in a year. Who knows, you might even be kicking my ass!”

Danny patted the girl's shoulder as she finally stood, beaming down at the Summer as if she were a proud parent who had seen their child's passing report card. Hollins seemed to be even more emotional, swiping at her eyes before taking in deep breaths. Almost immediately the freshman began to take aim and shoot her target, still not missing any vital part, and the VP smiled down at her still.

“Okay, you still want to try?” Danny asked, moving away from Hollins towards an empty shooting row.

Laura, who was still enamored with what just happened, blinked a few times before shaking her head. Coming back to reality, she finally responded, “Of course! But if you laugh...”

“My lips are sealed,” Danny confirmed. She physically placed her closed index and thumb next to her mouth before swiping it over, indicating her words rang true. It didn't last long as she began speaking of how Laura should stand and aim. “So just pull that string back and hold it there. While you breathe, take note of how little, or much, your body moves in comparison. When you breath out, take the shot.”

The journalist felt amazing, exhilarated even, as her body was stretched and held in ways it had never been before. The power that was coursing through her body was nice, though unfamiliar and strange, and her hazel brown eyes glared down towards the target. She was far too aware of Danny's breath on her neck as the woman stood behind and to the side of her. She was way too mindful of how her side ponytail slowly moved from one shoulder and hung down her back as her body leaned, and of the reaction from Danny she hoped she would get.

Clearing her throat silently, breathing out through her mouth harshly, Laura tried to shut down all such thoughts. Looking at the target in front of her, that seemed way too far away, the journalist stood in silence for a moment before finally releasing her tightened right handed fingers. It was over in a blink, the arrow moving so fast it was hard for someone untrained such as she to see it move along its trajectory, and the face she made after seeing where it landed was one of pure rapturous delight.

“Wow, Hollis,” Danny breathed, making the prior again realize how close they were. “You're a natural!”

Laura let out a laugh as her shoulders were hugged from behind and slightly shook. Her orbs looked over to the dummy she had fired upon and the arrow sticking out of the fake person's gut. She was obviously aiming for the heart, or even chest, but she would have to do with what she got. Realizing something, she turned and gave Danny the bow before wiping her hands off onto her hips. “It's not really me,” she said, shrugging a little before trying to smile. “It was really amazing though, Danny! Thank you for the opportunity.”

“Of course. We won't have to do this again, Laura.” Danny placed the bow onto the ground beside the bucket of arrows before holding onto Laura's shoulder. She looked at her fully, her hand brushing up and down the journalist's arm, before saying, “It used to be we trained like this so we could protect the student body from what went bump in the night. It's been a very long time since we were at war. We're not... training girls to fight and die, or kill.”

“No, I know,” Laura said reassuringly. “It's just... not for me.”

“If you're sure you're okay...”

Laura waved her off, patting Danny's hand softly before moving it. “Yeah, I'm really okay. You should come by later and choose which shots you want to go into the project!”

The quick change of topic was obvious and Danny welcomed it. “Oh, so I'm finally invited over to the dorm room, huh? What would the girls say at such bold behavior!”

“You were invited way before this!” A few seconds of flabbergasting later, Laura continued, “And we're friends. Friends should know where friend's dorms are. I can't always go to Perry to ask where study buddies rooms are, she'll talk my ear off again about surprisingly useful facts about the female body.”

Danny laughed hard at that, even going as far as slapping her knee. “Well, study buddy, I'm going to finish up here with Mel and I'll be over. Sifting through hours of photos and video recordings sound like a lot of fun.”

“I'm pretty sure our brains will melt by the end,” Laura agreed, giving off a smile.

“Not unless we have snacks!”

Laura beamed at this, her stomach rumbling even though she had just eaten. “A foodies work is never done!” she called before moving off of the field with one last wave to Danny.

The freshman walked back to her dorm without interruption, turning a few times here and there to continue to get tracking shots of the Summer's still at work. Happy to find her roommate was nowhere to be seen, Laura got to work on filtering out blurry pictures and ghost videos she had accidentally recorded. Here and there she would stop to get herself grape soda and another tray full of cookies, but all in all she worked rather diligently. She was also glad, though slightly saddened, there were no weird or random shots of possible Sand people but she was also aware how it was actually a good thing to _not_ see a strange blackened form in the corner of her camera.

Laura was on her second row of cookies when her door was lightly knocked on. “Oh, Danny,” she called, making the person on the opposite side of the door aware it was alright to come on in. The beauties tall frame filled the door before closing it behind her and her arms were filled with bags. Laura grinned, a laugh escaping her lips, “Tell me those aren't all snacks. I thought you were my healthy conscious speaking!”

Danny shrugged and came over to the bed and dropped the three bags full of snacks onto the floor. Taking out her ponytail and shaking her hair out, she finally spoke, “Well every once in awhile I like to splurge. You should be happy, it'll be a long time before this happens again!”

“I'll take the warning,” Laura said. Getting up from her swivel chair, she scampered to the makeshift kitchen before grabbing the stool and bringing it over. Giving Danny the chair, she made herself comfy on the stool as she splayed her hands towards the computer screen and said, “Okay, so I've gone through about two hundred pictures and videos combined.”

“Oh my god,” Danny laughed, trying to hide her astonishment miserably.

“Yeah... there's more where that came from too.” Laura nodded her head before making a face. Looking back at the screen she continued, “So after I choose all the ones I think will make the project pop, it would be awesome if you went back through and chose your personal favorites. I'm definitely going to add in what happened with Hollins from today, but I wanted to make sure it was okay. I will get her confirmation agreement before I release the project!”

Danny nodded her head, looking at the many files unopened on the computer. “Yeah, I think that sounds good. First I'm going to need a drink and open a bag of chips before we delve in.”

“Make that two,” Laura said happily.

The two were much like that for the rest of the night, meticulously working through the many files without a care in the world. Their presence was all they required at that moment, delicious snacks filling their bellies, and happy banter between them both as the night progressed. They were so caught up in themselves that they hadn't even seen the strange little being with beady red eyes watching them through the window. No, all they cared about were themselves and, if Laura was being honest, how she was rather glad she had chosen Danny to be the center of her project. And, if Danny were to ever speak the truth, she was even more ecstatic she had agreed to this girl's proposal many days ago.

 


	5. Summer Lies Beyond the Horizon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Experiments with a bio major, hidden affection, and a fateful Sand meeting, oh dear!

“Pull out the samples, make sure the beakers are cleaned, and get the slabs for the microscope,” LaFontaine mumbled to themselves as they walked through the building to enter their lab.

Well it wasn't really _their_ lab, it was Professor Phosphor's but those were just semantics the bio major refused to think about. Instead they resigned themselves to their numerous thoughts of what the agenda held today. Yesterday it was irksome having to go behind every first years' things, making sure they didn't blow anyone up with their wonderment of all the chemicals they were allowed to use. It was already bad enough Silas didn't seem to care about much in terms of safety, letting any student have access to dangerous chemicals regardless of what they knew about them or not, and if LaF hadn't made a practical residence in the lab- much to Perry's dismay, they were sure it would have blown up by now. Though, they thought as they turned the corner, the new chick Sabine was a nice distraction.

LaFontaine had practically been at wits end dealing with the other freshman, regardless if they were right in the same boat, until Laura had given them a gift greater than any other: someone who knew what the hell they were doing. Sabine was a genius in the lab, collecting samples from the blood they experimented on with ease, and even going as far to help the kids in the room when she saw they were getting a bit much for LaFontaine. It wasn't that the bio major disliked freshman, on the contrary, they loved helping and explaining things all the time! However when there was work to be done, and there were four freshman asking to help them with a chemical they used too much of, and what the counterbalance was, it became hair pulling bad.

But not for Sabine, LaF thought as a smile came to their lips. No way, Sabine was far more experienced and cool than the other freshman. They hadn't had time to talk about Sabine's age or if she was actually a first year herself, but with her knowledge LaFontaine didn't think they cared. If the girl kept bringing her all like she had done the previous day, they were sure they wouldn't mind her sticking around for the arduous weeks to come.

Brows were raised when LaFontaine turned the final corner and saw the lab's lights shining brightly through the door's upper windows. The entire bio department had pristine white walls, much like a hospital's that reminded LaF of disinfectant, and it was hard for one who was unaware of the slight changes in light tone to perceive a difference. But seeing as the bio major had been there almost every day since they started their schooling three weeks ago, they noticed instantly with a not so subtle frown on their face.

Entering the lab, their features relaxed as their steel blue orbs locked onto dark hair, a nose ring, and ripped jeans. Walking over to the table LaF had deemed their own at the beginning of the semester, they placed their half eaten apple down on the surface before clearing their throat.

“So I've never had a study buddy before.”

Sabine looks up, her eyes glazed over as if she had been in her own little world, before her countenance softened into a wide smile. Running a hand through her long hair, she replied, “I'm sorry for taking up your seat. I just wanted to get a good first start to the day.”

LaFontaine had been pulling out their books and placing them on the table as Sabine spoke. Putting their chemistry book in perfect alignment with the others, they looked over with a quirked brow. “Hey, good on you for using contractions!”

The girl blushed. “I'm a quick study. I've been around the lab already,” she said, watching LaF get up from their seat and begin walking towards the cabinets. “Everything is already prepared for the Professor and the other students.”

“You're too good to me,” LaF said, chuckling slightly as they walked back over to their seat. Getting comfy again, and pulling out their specially prepared lab goggles, they looked over to the girl. “So what's on the agenda for today?”

“If you wouldn't mind, how about the blood samples from yesterday? I did not know red blood cells can only last for forty-two days. I would hate for your experiments to come to an end because I pull you away from your project.”

LaFontaine waves their hand in the air, wriggling their goggles on top of their head before they respond, “We've got an endless supply of blood here. No worries on that front. My project isn't for class or anything, and from what you told me yesterday your stuff is pretty intense. I'm totally in.”

“You flatter me,” Sabine said, laughing as she stroked her cheek. “Dare I ask where this mystery blood comes from?”

The wiggling of eyebrows is her response, and after the two laugh into the comfortable empty room, they put on their game faces and get down to business.

 

* * *

 

 

The whooshing of air is heard on every exhale while a more subtle one is heard on each inhale. Danny's shoes barely hit the asphalt of the track as she traversed around it. Her arms pumped languidly while her breathing was in sync with each hop into the air, and the crisp air she was breathing in was like cooling liquid in her lungs. She loved running so early in the morning, and she was saddened that she had not done so for two full days. Granted, the alternative was nicer seeing as it was because of a certain little journalist, but even that thought was tainted by the events of the field.

She had wondered how many girls it had taken to clean the blood off of the massive area before they used it yesterday, and how long it must have taken someone to paint those broad strokes onto the fine needled grass. If it was a member of the Sand, however, it wouldn't take them long seeing as they were much faster than a human. Though those of the Polar faction would cause the most harm with their playful and wistful antics. Regardless of which it was, Danny thought before rolling her eyes, it couldn't happen again. The Sisters were already on edge and the VP feared if anything happened, they would take matters into their own hands. This being arrows flying at anything that happened to be supernatural, and possibly trying to burn down the very occult school they all attended.

Danny's love for Silas more so came from the Society and the women surrounding it, but she was never one to think of destroying the school because of the zombified Glee club or the lizards in the alchemy club that looked pretty much like small dragons. The freaky was an added bonus to the school she had longed to go to since the moment she picked up that pamphlet, and she would never destroy an organization that had gotten her in contact with the Greek origination Summer Society. She doubted the others thought the same, seeing as they were going stir crazy from the arrival at the end of the month, but she could only hope.

To be fair, the tall girl did not hate or much fear the other factions- or, how they would describe themselves: 'Chapters'. She had been caught off guard her second year when she heard the tales, and was even the girl who hid behind the mass of other Summers when the Harvest came to Silas Four. To see all those powerful people standing on the stage of the Summer building, all of those different races, it was pretty extraordinary. Danny would never forget that moment she had been able to watch the other factions compete against each other in the Hunt, and she had striven even harder to be the best she could so that the next time the factions came to her Silas, she could show them what she could do.

She just wasn't expecting it to be a second year in a row.

It wasn't that unusual, the amazon thought as she rounded the track for the fifth time. In fact, it was usually how the cookie crumbled, as it were. Most of the older factions hated hosting the Hunt because of all the preparation that went into it. The Polar Chapter was so big with their events, they would practically send the school into bankruptcy every time they hosted the function. Their race was way too flashy, Danny had decided when she heard of the story of the last great Harvest that was held there. And then there was the Vapor faction that blew out the power all over the school, and through many of the areas subdivisions, because of their light show. It was rather grand, they had over a thousand light bulbs plugged in, which of course shorted out the system of their smaller school, but afterwards they shot off exquisite fireworks that lit up the whole sky; or that was what Danny had heard anyways.

It wasn't really fair for them to hate hosting it when it was their races inherent demand to show off that led to these blowouts, but alas Danny would never tell the ambassadors of each faction as such. So, seeing as the other factions- including Sand- hated hosting the event, it wasn't a surprise that even the weakling humans had their chance to do it for two consecutive years. The Reapers did go all out, making large feasts, lighting miles worth of torches, and playing folk music to assuage the elder factions. No matter what they did, or how much they tried to harken back to the olden days however, it never seemed to be sufficient. Danny doubted it would ever be enough for her Sisters to show just how strong they really were to those who would never try to see past their race. And, for the most part, she was still content with that. It didn't matter if they couldn't see the human's brilliance; it only mattered that the Summer Society of Silas Four saw it in themselves.

Just as Danny reached her sixth lap around the track, a mile and a half she guessed, she slowed to a halt as she breathed steadily. She could run more, way more, but there was no reason to push herself to those extremes when she was more so trying to keep herself tone for the end of the month. Sauntering over to the long rows of benches, her arms on top of her wavy hair, the amazon quickly took a swig from her water bottle. She chose not to put her hair up this morning, even for her run, in preparation for her possibility at being chosen to represent the Reapers in the coming event. There was no telling what would happen, and Danny needed to start getting used to the possibility of her hair flying out in combat and how she would work around that.

Small sips here and there came slowly, the girl thinking over how efficient she was being even with her hair down, before she quirked her head to the side. Danny heard another noise in between her labored breathing that quickly caught her attention, and her brow knit as she continued to look over towards the sound. It wasn't fear that gripped her heart at the possibility of her being attacked by the intruder, but rather intrigue and mystery. She knew Laura would feel the same, though unlike the little journalist, Danny could take care of herself physically when put in this type of situation.

Placing her water back down onto the steel bench, the woman slowly walked over to the small shack that was in serious need of some TLC. It looked like it had been built sometime in the late 60's and there was no sign of upkeep on it after that time period. Danny was sure that a strong wind could knock it down with ease, though that was not at the forefront of her brain as she continued to slowly walk up towards the door. It was already cracked, indicating someone had been inside, and as she opened it slowly, her heart leapt to her throat.

“Oh... hi!”

Danny blinked as she saw a small human curled in the corner just out of eye shot of the door. She didn't have to blink again, taking in everything before her, before her brow furrowed and a disbelieving smile crept onto her lips.

“Laura, what are you doing in here?”

The girl bolted to a standing position, dabbing at her pants fervently before moving towards her shirt. A small laugh escaped her as she held up her camera and averted her gaze. “I thought I'd just take a stroll onto the track, you know. To try to catch some good footage of someone... running.”

“And you had to hide because..?”

“Because, um,” the flabbergasted girl said, though she was obviously stumped with trying to come up with an explanation. She gave up quickly enough and instead started to explain herself, “Okay, so you told me last night that you liked to run in the morning if you're not on the Summer's field, and I thought: hey, what a nice shot that could be for the project! And the best angle from the track wasn't on the bench but... in... here.”

Danny's brow raised again at Laura's tale. “You really have a knack for getting yourself into possibly dangerous situations, you now that, Hollis?” She smirked again before moving her arm in a 'come on' gesture as she moved out of the shack. When Laura didn't follow her, and instead kept fidgeting with her camera, Danny reentered the little room and patted her on the arm. “I was just joking, don't bite my head off or anything.”

Laura was all too aware of the slight hitches in the taller woman's breath, as well as the small beads of sweat that still clung to her person from the run. With Danny looking down at her like this, she didn't feel small and instead thought of how the door was letting out the sweet scent that wafted off of the amazon's body. With every moment she was around Danny, the more and more her feelings seemed to want to bubble to the surface. It had only been two full days since she had been shadowing Danny, but the more she thought about the heroic being in front of her, the more she wanted to do... something.

Clearing her throat as Danny tapped her again, Laura responded, “I really think this will be a nice transitional piece for the project!”

“Um, yeah,” Danny said, pausing for a moment. Tilting her head, another smirk on her lips, she continued, “Come on, I'll buy you breakfast.”

This time Laura followed the VP out of the shack, turning back at it in hopes in the future it would be used for something better, and continued to fall into step with the woman. “You don't have to pay for me. My dad just sent me a care package with fifty dollars stashed in the hollow edge of a hammer.”

“Hollow edge of a hammer,” Danny repeated, breathing into her hands as her core temperature lowered to normal. She hadn't remembered to bring a jacket with her since she ran from her dorm to the track and began her workout, and the shorts and tank top she sported wasn't doing much in the way of keeping her warm. “I think meeting your dad would be pretty awesome, if I can say.”

Laura laughed, looking over Danny's slightly shivering physique before saying, “That would certainly be an adventure, trust me. Do you want to borrow my jacket?”

Danny turned to an overly enthused girl before shaking her head. “We're almost to the caf' and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't even fit past my shoulders. You're pretty tiny.”

“Am not!” Laura denied with a raspberry and the sticking out of her tongue.

The amazon seemed to love this answer, her mouth opening in a loud laugh, before she swatted the air with her hand. “For the sake of argument, I'll just say... yes huh!”

Just as Danny bolted off, Laura trying indignantly to deny such charges, the latter girl began to giggle as she ran after her friend.

 

* * *

 

 

Melanippe Callis sat cross legged on her bed as the Skype video call sound filtered throughout her single dorm room. Most would think she was calling her mother, or even grandmother, to continue to pass along details of her presidency of the Summers- possibly to get advice, but such nonexistent people would be wrong. While Mel was glad to be the president of the Society, she was not the type to continuously ask advice from her own family, especially since they all thought she was a weakling that would have never made the position that she claimed for herself.

The president rubbed her temple, practically trying to massage away the bitter thoughts from herself, but stopped as the call finally picked up. On the other end was the shining face of one of Mel's closest allies, and one she actually called a friend.

“Mel,” the girl said, her British drawl heard immediately.

“Sam,” Mel replied, bowing her head slightly in respect.

The somber tone was broken almost instantly as Sam burst into laughter. “We really should change the greetings up a bit. Not that it's getting old or anything, but damn if it isn't weird treating you like some common human.”

The side of Mel's mouth twitched at the verbal slap in the face, but she ignored it in place of a smile. “Yeah well, don't want any of your pups to think I'm being disrespectful just in case they happen to see this.” It was the right choice of words, Mel thought, as she mused over the possible flicker of discomfort on the woman's face. She knew mentioning anything of “lesser” origins was akin to calling the supernatural factions lower than trash, but if Sam wanted to go blow for blow, Mel would show she could do exactly the same. Instead of basking in it, she continued tentatively, “So when are you thinking of arriving?”

Sam's head tilted, her brow raising, but answered regardless, “We're actually scheduled to depart soon. We didn't want to get there too late for the feast like last time.” The woman's face scrunched at the thought, her hand going to play with her long blonde hair, before she shook her head. “Why do you ask?”

Mel shrugged and nodded. “No real reason. Oh, unless you consider the fact that a possible Sand defiled our field two days ago.”

The woman's face went dark for a moment before her features lightened softly. “Mel, you are one of my closest friends and allies. I do hope you're not trying to start a war here.”

“No, I wouldn't dream of it,” Mel responded without missing a beat. “But it is a bit strange that our field is desecrated with blood so soon before the arrival of the other factions.”

“The Chapter of Europe do not claim this action as our doing, Melanippe. We do not intend to go to all out war against the human Chapter, and if we are then I have heard no word of this coup that is running rampant in the Sand.”

Mel rubbed her temple again, a sudden headache coming on with a vengeance. “I wouldn't be coming to you with this information if I thought you were in on it, Sam. But,” she continued, her eyes piercing, “the blood we tested was an animal's but the species was completely unidentifiable. You can't blame me for suspecting the Sand with such damning evidence. Now, my people have considered it was a set up, have the Reapers looking at the Sand so hard that the real culprit would slip right past us. I have to ask you if you've got any AWOL's recently, someone who would have a grudge against the human's joining the ranks of the Summers.”

Sam was quiet for a moment, her hand going up to rub against her chin, before she sighed heavily and cracked her knuckles. Threading her fingers together, she finally spoke, “The human Chapter has been among our ranks for many years, this is true. But what is two or three generations for you are flickers of time for us. Through this, this is true that there are many who do not condone the thoughts and actions taken by the Board to bring humans into our fold.” Sam shrugged her shoulders in defeat. “By telling you the information you seek, it would do you no better good than if I listed all of the components of the earth. There is simply far too many names to remember. I understand why you have passed the epithet of 'villain' to the Sand, but I promise you that I have had no rouge Sisters amongst us for one hundred of your years. Any who hold such inklings in their mind, if it comes to violence against the humans, are immediately screened out and denied entry into the Society. And, as you well know, any who do not join the Society cannot excel in... any of our arts.”

A hot breath was let out as Mel heard exactly what she thought she would. It wasn't that the notion of Sam lying to her was so prominent in her mind that she couldn't bring herself to believe her friend, on the contrary she was upset _because_ of how much she trusted her. If the Sand president didn't know anything about an off the rails member, then the Reaper president was right back at square one. Not exactly, she thought as she remembered Hollis. She was glad to have Laura for that moment, seeing as the mention of the annoying journalist's idea of it being a set up was the one thing that calmed Sam from thinking she was attacking her. It further led Mel to think she needed to check in with the first year to see if she or Danny had discovered anything else and would like to share with the class.

Before she kept herself enveloped in too much silence, Mel nodded her head in confirmation of everything she had just heard. “I believe you, friend. The Sisters are just all on edge and being one person trying to stop a brewing war isn't the best for mental or emotional health.”

Sam chuckled, getting a bit closer to the camera as she did. “A new ruler is always plagued with these situations, Mel. There is always whispers of war, always one who wishes to tip the scale of peace, and it never ceases to fall at the feet of only one. Do not let it consume you, my darling. You are a great leader, and you have brilliant girls who will fight for you at any cost. And as we all know, any who are ready to fight... are ready to listen.”

“Goddess above me,” Mel whispered, holding out her hand to touch the screen, her fingers brushing over Sam's cheek, “I really hope you're right.”

“Of course I'm right!” Sam blurted, swatting towards the human, making the latter smile too. “Speaking of: did you talk to that Scandinavian beauty yet?”

Mel almost snorted but instead rolled her eyes. “She really likes rush parties.”

“And that is a bad thing?”

“...No,” Mel mumbled, placing her hand to the bottom of her jaw. “I don't know, she's just so-”

Sam interrupted almost immediately, “It could be worse, she could turn out to be a Mara. That is, of course, if she was truly born where you say.”

“Yeah, because she-werewolves would really stop me from talking up an adorable, way too opinionated, little... You just set me up.”

A wide smile stretched from ear to ear on the Sand woman. “You think she's adorable! That is so sweet, Melanippe. Truly, I think I might shed a tear at your blossoming romance.”

Mel groaned loudly, almost shutting her laptop in aggravation, but instead deadpanned, “I will end you.”

Sam looked offended, her hand going to her chest before she bent her body slightly backwards as if she was physically blown away by such a ludicrous statement. “You wound me! I am simply trying to help along your love life. Is that such a crime?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Mel responded immediately, her tone unchanging. After bountiful moments of laughter, she finally sighed and said, “When you get here you have to promise to be my wing man.”

“Wing woman, dear. And you've got yourself a deal as long as you show me to that tall drink of water from last year. Fiery red hair, usually done up in a braid,” Sam explained.

Mel quirked her brow, a similar smile that was once on Sam's lips stretching over hers. Shaking her head, chuckling without reservation, she responded, “Yeah, I think you're going to be very disappointed when you arrive.” The smile never left her lips as she filled her friend in for the rest of their time online.

 

 


	6. The Arrival of Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flirtation and try outs, and Sand, uh oh...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8 kudos and over 100 hits, guys! You are way too good to me. Thank you so much for the continued support!

Mel noticed the passage of time all too abundantly as the days turned into weeks. At first it was no different than regular days, getting up extremely early to go to the Summer's building and making sure everything was in its right place. Going to all of her classes and talking Danny out of joining the hockey or softball team in lieu of giving her all in the Society were, sadly, at the top of her list. The damn ginger always had a fondness for crap like that, and every time they were alone Danny would bring it up with indignation.

“Okay, but think of it,” Danny said, her fingers splayed out in front of her, “I could be the hockey's team captain. Or the softball's team! You could be my second.”

Mel, who usually would have to remove the pen from the side of her mouth, would reply with little emotion, “Yeah, that sounds super amazing, Lawrence. Or, just hear me out- no.”

Danny's head fell into her books, both of the two women studying together for their history class, before she would lift it so the the waxy paper couldn't stick to her forehead. “Something outside of the Summers will do us both good! We could relax, take a load off and-”

“Dude, do you really think now is the best time?” Mel asked, cutting her friend off. It was strange to think of it, but outside of prying eyes both women were rather close. They were of the same year and it was pretty much a blessing that they had similar courses throughout their time at Silas. Mel chalked it up to the board allowing Summer's to be placed in the same classes due to building teamwork and trust or something, but alas. “If you join the team now, yeah you'll be starting off fresh with them, but your attention will be pulled from your Sister's and the Harvest. This isn't something you want because Hollis, right?”

Cheeks puffed and hot retorts were released as Danny denied such charges. “You know I've always wanted to try something different. It's got nothing to do with Laura. Besides,” Danny said, her fingers tapping against her textbook, “we don't really talk about me joining another club.”

Mel's brow quirked, a devilish smirk appearing on her features, before she would reply, “Oh, and what _do_ you talk about? Or, I guess the better question would be if you ever talked at all.”

Danny threw an embroidered pillow at her friend as the latter began to make kissy faces and smacked her lips loudly. “Shut up!” she cried, moving her body upward so that she was in a sitting position instead of on her stomach. “We don't- Laura and I haven't.” Taking a breath, moving her hands in front of her in a motion that harkened to her trying to tell herself to breath so that she could get her words out, Danny continued, “We haven't even kissed yet, okay. We just _talk_ , you know? Like how she's never played video games before and how I, a reigning champion, promised to teach her. And she listens even though she has no idea what the structure of games are, and her insight on them is just so pure, Mel. Or,” Danny's unabated comments rolled on as her hands moved to her words, “how she started a literal uprising in elementary school! Oh my god, that story gets me every time. Or-”

“Okay, Lawrence,” Mel interrupted, her hand flying up as in a nonverbal way of saying 'halt'. “While I'd love to be anywhere but here listening to your obvious yet latent attraction to the freshie, I might pop out a tear if you continue to assault me with it.” The president dodged another hurled pillow before placing it behind her back alongside the first. “I am very saddened to hear you haven't even thrown a kiss out there yet. It's been three weeks!”

The shrug of her shoulders made Danny appear to be a lot younger than she was. Her eyes glazed over for a moment as she thought of Laura's soft lips on hers, but quickly shook her head to lock away the notion. Clearing her throat at her own expense as Mel chuckled darkly, Danny said, “Hey, I could say the same with you and Elsie!”

“Whoa there, Lawrence. Watch yourself.”

Danny waved her hand into the air in a 'whatever' fashion before blowing a raspberry. “Come on, Mel. I've seen you practically drooling over her at practice.”

It was at this time that Mel stammered out a passive aggressive comment before averting her attention back to her studies. She was definitely not going to tell her friend anything about the Sister she was fiending for, at least not then anyways, and they had continued the rest of their night with light banter and the passing of answers to each other. Danny had warned her to be careful when she left her room, giving her VP a wave, a roll of the eyes, and a quick “Of course” before she walked back to her own dorm. While there were only two buildings full of single dorm rooms, Mel had gotten unlucky enough to not be in the same one with Danny. It wasn't too unique for upper classman to have single dorms, so it wasn't a huge surprise that the ginger's building filled up faster before Mel could apply for a spot there. It would make things so much easier, she had decided as she walked briskly through the cold to her own dorm.

Much of the weeks passed in this manner, Mel studying with Danny if not going to train with the Summers. Curses were yelled into her own mind when she brought Elsie, and only Elsie, a Capri Sun on a particularly warm day on the field. She also let forth silent hisses at Danny as the taller woman would run by, a smirk on her face and the universal sign of 'I'm watching you' exuded from her body language. It didn't stop Mel from continuing her actions, especially since she was rewarded with a light kiss on the cheek one night after walking Elsie to her dorm. After the blonde closed her door, Mel is deeply ashamed to say she smiled like a kid at Christmas before walking slowly to her dorm. If Danny were to retell the story, she would definitely say there were real hearts in Mel's eyes, to the venomous retorts from the president.

She was even on top of preparing all of the many requirements for the Harvest! She had rounded up a few Summers she trusted more than others to help her gather the materials for the feast, the torches that were hand crafted, and the ingredients for the games. Samira and Cassie, Donna too since she was practically tied to Cassie's hip, did their duty with pride, happy to be chosen by their president for such a momentous occasion. They were so scared to mess up because of the implications their own president, and the other factions, would give them that it allowed Mel to reel in her anxiety just a little bit.

It didn't last for long seeing as she still had to go through and make sure everything was in peek form for the Harvest. She knew Sam was coming from the Sand, but she wasn't as much in contact with the other factions as she was with the Europe. Granted, the Vapor faction could pick up a phone once in awhile since they were _technically_ a part of the European Chapter, but whatever. Mel continued to think about walking into the woods to preform the ceremony required to reach the Polar faction, they making it harder than necessary for the other factions to contact them even though they had phones at their disposable.

The president had so much on her mind the morning of the fourth week that she had almost missed the newcomer in the Summer's building. She had been walking aimlessly around campus on her day off, her actual destination being to check the field of any desecration again, but had found herself drawn here instead. Looking up, and pausing for a moment, she cocked her head before looking around.

“And you are?”

The noirette practically jumped a foot off the ground as she turned around towards the doorway. Seeing Mel she relaxed into a smile and reached out her hand, even though she was too far away to receive a handshake. “I'm Sabine. Danny offered me a position here, if I wanted it, a few weeks ago.”

“Lawrence, huh,” Mel echoed, her eyes still passing over the girl with care. Nodding lightly, she moved closer to the student. “Positions are always open for any girl who is looking for a home. The Summer Society is a big responsibility, so you need to choose now if you really want to take that on along with your classes.”

Sabine nodded fervently. “I've been pretty bored after classes. I need something to fill the void while I'm here and I am more than happy to make it the Society. So many good things have been said about this club.”

Mel nodded with pride. “As it's been for over a hundred years. You look the part, but show and tell was always my favorite part of class.” She tilted her head towards the door as her body turned. “Coming?”

The girl immediately did so without being told twice. Sabine was a bit taller than Mel but still shorter than Danny, and as they walked the president was taking in how the girl held herself. There was brimming confidence in her, Sabine walking with determination in every step, and that alone was enough to give her some points. When it came to the obstacle course, however...

“So,” Mel said as they got to the course, the mud pits still a mess from yesterday's training, “the course is dangerous when turned on but lucky for you, we're going through it static. Just show me what you can do, and how fast you can do it, and depending on if you can make it to the end we'll discuss your placement into the Society.”

Sabine seemed to be overly ecstatic. Her chocolate orbs were darting around the Grecian columns that dotted the area before resting on the wooden and metal obstacle course. The look of determination made Mel smile as she watched the newcomer jog to the starting zone. Sabine took a few slow breaths, her muscles relaxing and tightening in anticipation, before she bolted into action without a moment's notice. She knew how to maneuver her tall body, Mel found, as she watched her weave in and out of the climbing net with ease. She sprinted, tumbled, and hurtled over all of the obstacles, only losing momentum once or twice in the entire course. Sure, it wasn't turned on, but the feat itself was impressive enough. The chick didn't care about getting her clothes messy in the least, slamming into the mud pits and crawling through them as long as she could possibly get, and before she knew it, Mel was nodding her head in appreciation and respect.

By the time Sabine finished the course, in record time to the presidents notice, she was covered from head to toe with dirt and grime but the smile that shone on her face was clear. She jogged over to the president, her hands going to her thighs as she bent slightly, the evidence of her trying to catch her breath apparent.

Before she could say anything, Mel cut in, “We need more badassery like that in our ranks. I think you've just earned your spot among the Sisters. Congrats.”

Sabine stuck out her hand again, her palm open as she said, “Sabine Pales, reporting for duty, ma'am.”

Mel took it, disregarding the sludge on it, before she patted Sabine's back. “Let's get you some new clothes, freshie.”

“I would really appreciate that,” the girl said, laughing along with Mel's chuckle. The only thing on her mind was happiness pure and simple. She had done it, after so much preparation. She had finally joined the Summer Society. She was a Sister now and forever.

 

* * *

 

 

Laura moved closer to the burning ball of warmth next to her that, she thought, was her comforter. Her bleary mind couldn't fathom why her comforter had a heartbeat, or why it would be breathing, and this realization caused Laura to mumble under her breath before opening her eyes slowly. First she noticed that her hand was pressed into what was definitely _not_ her comforter, while her other was facing her, palm curled in between herself and the being beside her.

Blinking more rapidly, Laura opened her mouth to say something, but decided to not wake the beautiful woman sleeping next to her and closed it. She brushed strands of hair from her face before she craned her neck to look up towards Danny Lawrence's peaceful features. Her red locks had dipped into her face in slumber, and it was all Laura had not to gently swipe them away before caressing Danny's cheek.

Biting her lip instead, Laura laid back down for a moment as she tried to scavenger her mind. It was pretty odd to have a girl in your bed without first remembering how they had gotten there with both of their clothes still on and you pressed into their chest area. Where else would she be pressed, Laura thought with the roll of her eyes. Being the little spoon was pretty much her entire repertoire and she didn't mind one bit!

Right, right, why was Danny sleeping in her dorm room? Laura's face scrunched up as she tried to remember the previous night. All she really remembered was Danny coming over after Laura sent her a text of new material they needed to go through for her project. It had been one of their rituals for the past few weeks, and Laura hoped Danny was having as much fun with it as she was. Speaking of texting, Laura almost jumped ten feet in the air after Danny finally decided to reveal the holy numerals to her and- okay, no, focus!

Danny was carrying something behind her back when she walked in. Laura thought it was more snacks, and she had promptly began to lament how she couldn't possibly eat more when Danny revealed a bottle of-

“Oh,” Laura whispered as she turned her head downward and to the side.“Obstler..."

So it wasn't like the journalist was really big into drinking anything other than hot cocoa and grape soda, but still there she was taking shots from the bottle as the two women passed it between themselves. Danny was talking about needing to relax, especially since things were going to get extremely hectic soon, and it wasn't like Laura was a child. She could drink like the rest of them! Or so she thought, she miserably remembered, until her fifth swig in when she was laughing way too hard at dumb jokes or blurry images on her hard drive.

Sweet, noble Danny, even though she was also pretty inebriated, offered for herself to go home when Laura became so tired she face planted onto her bed. Danny had been helping her get into a more comfortable position when Laura pulled her down by the nape of her neck, almost having the tall woman miss the bed entirely, but was successful in her attempt. Drunken Laura assuaged Danny that she didn't have to walk to her dorm in her state, pretty much saying she was drunker than she was, before she patted her yellow pillow.

Danny had laid on it without another word, though Laura is pretty sure she remembers a dark chuckle and a soft smile, and they had both fallen asleep shortly after. Nothing happened, nothing went wrong, and the only possible invasion of privacy Laura remembered was pressing her hands around Danny's side. The amazon didn't seem to mind when she did, since she was still awake, and Laura had taken it as the okay to leave her palm where it lay.

Remembering everything didn't seem to stop the dry tingle in her mouth, and Laura pressed a small hand to her forehead. She was never one to get drunk, though she was also blessed with amazing genes because she didn't feel a hangover in the least. That was a good thing, because holy crap she doubted she could survive the day with one.

Laura suddenly had a mighty need to scratch her back, though she didn't want to move for fear of waking up Danny. Trying to fidget wasn't helping, but that didn't stop the tiny girl from continuing her motions until a hand clamped down onto her head, making her stop with a squeak.

"Okay, okay, I'm up," Danny's scratchy voice whispered, it thick with sleep.

Laura really wished she could kiss this woman right here and right now. Instead she shakes her head slightly, raising her hand so that her fingers brushed over the side of Danny's palm. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I just had the itch of a lifetime on my back and-”

The journalist's head bent into Danny's chest as the latter woman grunted before reaching her long arm downward from its position underneath her head. Immediately she began to scratch Laura's back softly, making sure to go over every quadrant of flesh, before the tired woman absentmindedly started to rub out the girl's muscles through her shirt.

Laura would be lying if she said she didn't want this. She was sure a soft moan would come out of her mouth any moment now as she buried her head softly further into Danny's chest. Her hand went up to wrap around her back again, and her breathing was in sync with the woman's. It was so nice, so peaceful, Laura didn't want it to end. Everything with Danny was easy. The shadowing, the journalism, the talking so casually with each other. It was blissful, and nice, and Laura had never had that before. Yeah, she knew she drove Danny up the wall every time she talked so enthusiastically about the mystery of the first day they were together, and of acting like the Chapters coming to town wasn't a big deal; but they were still together, still talking, and Laura wouldn't trade that for anything. Danny was so nice and loyal, and brave, it made Laura's heart swell every time she looked at her.

The long red hair, the height, and the awkwardness wasn't bad either.

After a few more moments of this, Danny still breathing languidly through her nose, she finally opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. Squinting from the rays of the sun filtering in through the window, she looked down at Laura with a smirk on her lips. Successfully fighting the urge to kiss the top of the girl's head, Danny instead said, “Please tell me my phone's not still on your desk.”

Laura opened her eyes slowly, wishing and hoping she didn't have to move, before looking over her shoulder towards the desk. Her computer was still on, a video they had been playing still up and asking if they would like to replay, but her eyes did not spy a phone. “You're in luck. It might be behind your head.”

Danny grunted, moving her hand from Laura's back- much to the girl's dismay- before she rifled around the shelf of the bed. “Mmm,” she moaned out as her fingers curled around her phone and almost cried out when the screen was even brighter than the sun! Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, happy that Laura stayed in her position, Danny rested her hand absently back onto the girl's back as she scrolled through her phone.

It was junk mail she was getting notifications from, but there were also some text messages from a slew of Summer Sister's. Hans was asking her where the Zeta's beer kegs were usually stored because she wanted to do her own kegger party while there were three text messages from Cassie, Donna, and Samira respectively inquiring on the most useful wood to use for the games and torches. Danny thought they had enough by now, seeing as the three Sister's had been creating them for the last three weeks, but she guessed wrong.

She would have replied to the girls if not for a glaring message now staring her in the face. Her stomach dropped, her breathing becoming so shallow that Laura looked up with inquisitive eyes. She read, then reread the message over again before she allowed her head to rest back onto the pillow. Her cornflower blue orbs were on the ceiling, her hand leaving Laura's back to press into her red locks.

“What's wrong?” Laura asked, a tint of fear or concern in her voice.

Danny's gaze fell from the ceiling and down to the girl, her head shaking as she bit her lip. This wasn't good. This really wasn't good.

“Danny,” Laura said again, worry furrowing her brow, “what is it?”

“We've gotta go, Laura. Bring your camera,” Danny replied gruffly, her body moving to indicate for the journalist to get up and start packing the things she needed for the day.

As Laura muttered to herself about everything she needed, Danny placed her feet onto the cold wood of the ground, the temperature doing nothing to shock her already awoken systems. Her eyes were still on her phone, on the text that was sent to her only two hours after she began stupidly drinking the night before. She grit her teeth, pressing her hand through her hair again, before she got up and got her belongings just as Laura finished.

 

_Don't know where the hell you are, Lawrence but get down to the building now! The Sand are here..._

 

_-Mel_

 

 


	7. The Race of Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Races, cameras, shifting- oh boy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it has definitely been awhile since I have written for this story, but by no means do I want it to die! I hope there are still some Hollence fans out there that enjoy this story. From my last chapter alone there have been over 100 hits and 7 more kudos. That means so much to me, you have no idea. I know this is a smaller ship, but I hope Carmilla fans in general find interest in the expansive universe I'm trying to set up. Thank you all so much once again. I hope you enjoy!

Laura's tiny legs were aching as she tried to keep up with Danny's long and powerful stride. Her heart sank and her ears began ringing when the elder woman told her what she assumed was the worst possible news, and the fast pace that both girls kept wasn't alleviating that feeling. Laura's camera bounced against her chest painfully, her hand tried to clamp down onto it so it would stop swinging erratically, but every so often her foot would hit a rut in the ground and there went flying her arms to try to keep her steady. She had just done it for the fifth time when she huffed out a breath and turned her attention to Danny.

“I thought we had one more week before the Sand got here,” she began, not being surprised when Danny didn't say anything back. The worried expression on the redhead's brow frightened Laura, but the girl still continued, “I guess magical creatures are extremely early all the time, huh. What with them being thousands of years old and all- there isn't any time for waiting, am I right?”

“There isn't anyone in the Sand that is over a thousand years old,” Danny replied absently.

Laura's heart leapt, happy to have gotten a word edge wise out of the amazon, but shook her smile away. “Was everything prepared? I mean I know all the Summers were working their butts off so it had to have been all done, right?”

“It's not really about that, Laura.”

 _Then what it is about?_ Laura bit her lip, her mind racing to determine what Sand members would look like when she noticed they were almost to the Summer's building. This was it. She was finally going to see a supernatural creature up close and personal! Her slightly sweaty hand curled around her camera expectantly, and it seemed like all concern had left her little body. Racing behind Danny, the woman not taking a moment to stop as she walked straight into the building. The door was strangely open, and Laura followed dutifully behind her.

What she expected was a telltale sign of an extraordinary factor, but when she turned her head towards Mel and a brunette Laura had never seen before there was nothing strange about her. She firstly thought it was another Summer Mel was giving orders to, but as they got closer in the empty building, she took note how they were talking to each other.

“It's been too long, Melanippe. I hope my emissaries did not frighten you. Arriving first is so lame, is it not.” The woman dragged a hand through her long hair, before her dark orbs turned to the newcomers. She said nothing and allowed Mel to speak.

“Oh it was no big deal. Three Sand members randomly on the field sniffing around didn't freak anyone out. We were just glad we identified them quickly or we could have started another war.”

The British woman laughed at that, provoking Mel to do the same, and Danny's face remained in a grim line. Laura didn't know how to react because that really wasn't very funny, but she stood slightly behind Danny like she was told to do. She could still see the Sand leader but Danny was blocking the view of Mel, and the image of a little girl hiding behind their taller best friend from a bully resounded in Laura's mind.

“Sam,” the woman said, her dark cobalt eyes fixing on Laura.

With her name Mel had turned to see Laura, even though she could only see the outline of the side of her body, and even Danny looked surprised and turned her head toward the girl. The sudden attention made Laura fidget mindlessly before she stepped out of the red head's shadow and waved awkwardly.

“Laura,” she replied. Thinking it over she continued, “It's very nice to meet you.”

Silence descended into the room before Sam chuckled lightly and turned back to Mel. “You didn't say there was going to be an outsider in our affairs. And a camera?”

Mel's jaw set before she said nonchalantly, “She's the one that discovered the rouge chapter member in our midst. If it wasn't for that camera and where she chose to point it, we could have lost Danny and maybe more Summers. Because of that I've deemed her an invaluable asset to this years Harvest.”

Admiration and happiness burst through Laura's person like a beacon of light. Mel really thought so highly of her? She let a small smile creep onto her face that was rather hard to hide from the women still staring at her. It made Mel roll her eyes and cross her arms, and Sam just kept her gaze steady. Laura couldn't pinpoint the emotion behind the Sand's eyes, but she didn't know if she really liked it all that much.

Still she tried to urge herself to speak. “So when are the other chapters coming?”

It did not go unnoticed by Danny that the journalist started recording, but Sam spoke up as if she didn't care one way other the other. “Shortly, I'm sure. You must watch out, Mel. The elves aren't going to be happy they came in second.”

“Well I doubt the Vapor are going to get here anytime soon either,” Melanippe responded. “Even with their-” she cut off and pointed two fingers toward her eyes before flicking her hand in a dismissive notion.

Sam laughed at that, hard. “Quite right!”

 _Elves?_ Laura's mind immediately began to race at the possibility of actual elves, and she scrunched up her face in thought. Her mind was always filled with the possibility of the supernatural, and she would be lying if she said her infatuation with Danny is what made believing her easier. There was still that doubt in her mind when it was brought up by others, however. She rather doubted all these students were crazy, and there had to be some truth in their words. The concept alone was making her palms sweat with anticipation of meeting a real fantasy creature, though a thought struck her and she looked to Sam with suspicion.

Laura tugged on Danny's arm before moving a bit closer to the woman. Turning her head upwards, she whispered, “What are Sand members?”

Before Danny could answer a huffing member that Laura had not seen before came running in. Her clothes were disheveled and she appeared as if she had been running for a good amount of time. The auburn haired girl didn't speak, opting to look to Sam intently before the latter nodded and looked back to the group.

“It seems as if a race is being conducted. Shall we join?”

Mel's gaze hardened, if that was possible before she said, “Without the other factions? They'll be pretty pissed.”

Sam waved her hand as if to dismiss the concept. “It's just for fun! Come now, let's see the winner.”

Grumbling, Mel left the stage with Sam trailing behind her before jutting her head to Danny to follow. Danny also seemed to be in a bitter mood, and Laura followed behind all of them with anticipation swelling in her stomach. What was so bad about a race between two chapters?

Making it to the large field, Laura saw that the Summers had been keeping busy for the past week. Hand made torches dotted the entirety of the grounds and ceremonial creations hung from the trees that dotted the edge of the grassland and from some of the lights. It looked completely different, especially with different colored paints that swatched the area marking different things, Laura supposed. Upon getting closer, the group saw a rather short girl antagonizing a sophomore Summer.

“Come on then,” the girl said, her accent drawling out, “let's see what you've got.”

“Oh please, everyone knows you're just going to cheat.”

A look of offense stretched across the girl's face and her demeanor changed. “You watch your mouth.”

The Summer looked around to the others. Most were cheering her on but the elder girls were shaking their head slightly while some reached down to a small knife. Laura noticed all of them had weapons of some kind on their person, and the anticipation turned to dread rather quickly. Thankfully the group had arrived rather quickly so nothing else was said.

Sam looked to the Sand girl and to the sophomore. “I was told it was an innocent race. Why do I smell tantalization from you?”

“She called me a cheat...”

“And thus you had no intention of turning when you saw you were losing, Cassandra?”

The tips of the girl's ears turned red and she rummaged her hand through her short hair. It made Laura wonder what kind of “turning” there could be, but when she looked to Danny the face the amazon sported was one of concentration. She had no intention of breaking it and instead continued to watch on, her camera rolling the entire time.

“You are young,” Sam said, her finger running below the girl's chin. “Remember what your place is among this chapter. We are guests here. We do not antagonize those who have opened their doors to us. Bite the hand that feeds you,” she continued, “and you will surely be put down.” Sam must have gotten the reaction she wanted because she smiled curtly and walked back over to Mel. “Now shall the race begin?”

It didn't take much to see the sudden fear that passed through the young Sand's eyes, but Mel held her composure. Instead she replied, “We shall.”

Two sophomore girls were called that included the one that had been fighting, and Cassandra and another Sand of the same size were called from the opposite team. They looked more like freshman, but Laura couldn't have been certain off their size alone. After some talk with their chapter's leaders, the four took their place at the start of the line- which was indicated by two torches and a pattern of blue paint on the grass. Laura slightly jumped when a gunshot was heard, and she had forgotten in relay races that was the traditional starting function.

The four girls bolted, following the rows of torches and staying inside of the white outline that was placed on either side to make lines. The smaller girls seemed to move at incredible speed, just staying slightly in front of the Summer sisters even though they had smaller statures. Most of the race was seen just like this, Cassandra winning by mere seconds while the Summers trailed behind.

Final stretch, Laura thought as she looked down to her camera. She had been recording everything, and she had to keep making sure everything was working. Her head shot up when she saw something extraordinary, and her little body almost jumped off the ground in cheer as the initial sophomore Summer bolted in front of the two Sand girls. They had been coming around a corner and both Sands had slipped in the grass while the Summer sister kept her footing. It gave her invaluable time she needed. The girls were already so close to the finish line, Laura knew the Summers would have their first victory!

“Come on, Emily,” Mel whispered.

It was audible enough for Laura to hear, but she kept her mouth shut as she watched the race continue. Emily and the other Summer were so close to the finish line, there was no way for the Sand to catch up. The air around them was buzzing with electricity, and Laura wondered if the Summers had ever won a race when going up against the other chapters. Those thoughts were squashed as she saw something so unbelievable, later on in the night she would have to check her camera again to see she wasn't hallucinating.

Cassandra had let forth a sound that was inhuman before a thing line appeared straight down her face and neck. With each pump of her arms her skin split in a horrifying appearance, and for a moment Laura thought she had been sawed in half. She kept running, however, and in another second a dark, short haired figure burst forth from the girl's body and bolted toward the finish line. It was so large it quickly knocked down both Summers, throwing them to the ground forcibly, before skidding as it passed the line marking the end of the race. The howl that escaped the thing's throat sent shivers up Laura's spine, but she dutifully kept filming both the wounded Summers and the thing that won.

Danny turned to Mel, unsaid emotion swirling in her eyes, but the latter woman held up her hand to dismiss it.

Mel's voice rang out over the quieted field, “Summers, your sisters are down!”

A unison response came before most of the junior and sophomore classes moved into the make-shift track and picked up the bleeding girls. Emily was wounded the worst, mostly from the force of the collision and sliding face first in the dirt, but it didn't look too bad. They were carried off the field and towards the building a good ways back.

The president continued, “I declare the Summers as the winner, don't you?”

Sam nodded slowly before glaring at the thing that was Cassandra. The latter was whimpering, and her ears were laid back on her massive head. There was something unspoken between them before Cassandra's bones were heard to break, her mouth opening in a silent scream. Before their eyes she was a person again, her clothed form sitting on the grass with her knee propped up. It seemed to be the end of that, and the Summer and Sand members dispersed, some to the woods and others towards the building.

Danny grabbed hold of Laura's hands, which sent shivers up her spine for all the right reasons, before trudging back up towards the school. When they were a good distance away and without prying eyes, or so they thought, Laura turned to the taller woman and stared without speaking.

The red head's cornflower blue orbs looked to her as well before she sighed heavily. “Wolves, Laura. They're werewolves.”

 


	8. Summer Defined

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explanations, shades, and cookies- how fun!

“You're taking this surprisingly well.”

Danny watched on as Laura chewed fervently on her chocolate chip cookie, not even dunking them in her Tardis mug full of milk. She had been looking through her footage ever since they got back to her dorm, and her sloughing was definitely due to the realization of real life werewolves only an hour before. All the way back to her room Danny was nervous of what Laura would think of seeing someone change for the first time, but the smaller girl seemed to have a sort of electricity in her movements. She seemed even more determined, and it made Danny's heart flutter. The infamous roommate was still nowhere in sight, and the TA wondered if Laura really had a roommate or if she had claimed both sides of the room herself. It would make sense of why they were always alone, even after sleeping over here the previous night, but it didn't bother her just in case something steamy happened.

Her cheeks heated as she blushed, and when Laura looked back to her she rubbed it away quickly with the flick of her hand.

“Look at this,” Laura said, indicating for Danny- who was sitting on the bed- to come closer to the desk.

The taller girl obliged and took up the wheeling chair Laura usually sat in. Her eyes were intently on the screen when she saw a sudden flash right behind Cassandra after she shifted. Cocking her head, she looked at Laura in a silent question to rewind it, and watched the footage again.

“Is that-”

“The same exact weird thing from earlier, yes.” Laura's face was scrunched slightly and she did this adorable thing with her mouth she only did when concentrating on something hard.

Danny watched the playback one more time before she sighed and leaned back onto her seat. The thing with red eyes was back and this time it was sleuthing around the forest line, looking intent on the winner of the race. When Sam had agreed that the humans won the first bout, the thing stalking the woods seemed to grow agitated, its form growing and shifting as if snakes wreathed underneath the skin, before it disappeared into the woods slowly. It wasn't just a coincidence, Danny decided. There was no possible way the beast wasn't connected in some way to the Sand, but the possibilities were too great to determine who was the one to blame. Whoever it was, they weren't causing harm to anyone, that was reported anyways. Besides the field there was nothing that was truly disturbing or a sign of violence from the thing either. So what could the thing want?

“This is really amazing, Laura,” Danny finally said, her hand running through her hair.

The girl's demeanor seemed to change before she started stuttering, laughing, and smiling to herself. “It's nothing, really. Just... you know, camera and stuff.”

“You know where to point it.”

“Anyway, you really need to tell me about the other chapters.”

Danny hesitated for a moment before she said, “I don't think that's wise until they arrive.”

“Why?” Laura seemed almost disappointed and it broke Danny's heart.

“Don't you want some intrigue? For your story, I mean. If you knew everything now, your reactions on camera would be disingenuous. Which might make the viewer incapable of connecting with you.”

Laura looked up to her laptop camera, which was shooting the entire conversation, before she made a determined face and nodded. “You're right! A girl doesn't have to manufacture suspense if it's already there on camera.” She was silent before she continued, “Sam isn't going to... eat me or anything right?”

“Why would you think that?” Danny's eyes were wide, a smirk playing at her lips.

“She didn't seem very keen on a human being there that wasn't a part of the Summers.”

Danny waved her hand before bringing her knee close to her chest. It was a hard move to accomplish seeing as the chair was small and the cleft her foot could sit on was even smaller, but still she seemed relaxed. She hoped it conveyed the same emotion to Laura. “Sam is an interesting leader. While she doesn't condemn human-kind like her predecessors, she also doesn't exactly like us. Mel and her are great friends from what I've seen, and maybe that's why we've been at peace for so long.”

“Peace? Mel said earlier something about a war.”

A heavy sigh later, Danny spoke, “I told you before the humans are the newest relative chapter in the Silas universities. The other factions didn't take kindly to our introduction, especially the Polar. They came at us without mercy under the guise of friendship and the games. We had been invited to their university and, to say the least, it was a bloody trap. That happened two generations ago, Mel's grandmother's era.”

Laura stopped her, surprised. “Mel's grandmother?”

Danny nodded, her mind being torn from the stories to witness Laura's bright enthusiastic form. She seemed so intertwined in the story, no doubt in her, and it made the woman want to smile. Instead she continued with her story, “Char was her name, Mel's grandmother. She barely survived, but war had begun because of it. Back then only a few students from each year could attend the games, so when Char fled the Polar faction, she still had many girls back here. Because she was stuck deep in Polar area- Greece- she had to get allies. The Vapor didn't want to get involved, though eventually they sided with the humans, while the Sand split into two and pledged themselves to both parties. Char hitched a ride to England via the train system, walking up to Silas Three where the Sand resided. She told them of the attack from the Polar faction, and after a lot of debate they got her a one way ticket back to her school. But because of that, and the fact that the Polar's thought because they were the first school they could escape ramification, the big war started.”

Both girls had been drinking from their cups slowly, Laura from her Tardis mug and Danny from a purple cup full of water. The woman's words laid heavy on Laura's chest, and the girl tried to pump herself up again. Horrible things happened, but the war had ended though she was sure they were all still in the aftereffects. How much did Mel's family have to suffer to get where they were now? How many members on all sides had to give their lives because of some inferiority complex? She offered Danny a cookie, which the red head took without question, and she munched on her own slowly.

“How long did the war last?” Laura asked.

“It's hard to say. All factions say differently, but the Reapers think it ended in the second generation. It's only been over for about 50 years give or take.”

Laura contemplated for a moment. “So it's pretty fresh in everyone's minds.”

“That's why this mystery creature is so dangerous. If it's a Polar, or even a Sand that's trying to tip the balance that we tried so hard to attain, there's no telling how far the second war will go.”

“Well we're not going to let that happen!”

Danny really hoped such a determined face and spirit couldn't possibly be wrong. She really, truly hoped.

 

* * *

 

 

LaFontaine was reading over the results from the blood samples when Perry, their long time best friend, sat across from them in the cafeteria. It was unusual for LaF to choose this place to eat, seeing as they weren't too fond of getting wrangled into an experiment, but they didn't care to go all the way back to their dorm room today. This was a simple and quick reprieve before they got back down to business with Sabine. The girl had really been showing some promising work, and whatever sample she had brought into the lab was really something to behold. She wouldn't let LaF look at it for long, but just the possibility was enough to keep them entertained with the experiment.

“Su- LaFontaine,” Perry said, slightly agitated. When they looked up, she continued, “All of this work is really putting a damper on your sleeping schedule. Your logs are all over the place!”

Before Perry could pull out the sleeping schedule she had been keeping on both of them since they were kids, LaF interrupted, “I know, Per, but this is really interesting.”

Perry seemed to deflate for a moment before she stabbed into her chicken nuggets with a fork. She didn't care that LaF was most definitely looking at her strangely and instead asked, “So what have you been working on that is keeping you from getting the precious sleep you need?”

Energy ripped through LaFontaine and they expostulated, “DNA recombination!”

“You'll have to explain, sweety.”

“Okay,” LaF said, obliging their friend and putting down their fork to explain mostly with their hands. “So when we recombined DNA it usually just means we're graphing strains of DNA from two different organisms. It's super hard to do, but also really rewarding, and a smaller version of this is recombining chromosomes. Well Sabine, Laura's friend, gave me these strange samples of plasma and blood and we've been trying to overlap it with human DNA. It's super hard to do because, from plasma anyways, extracting DNA is usually fragmented but not impossible to do.”

“To what end?”

“Well, to say we could! I mean, isn't that what science is about?”

Perry didn't seemed convinced but she still responded, “Of course, honey.”

LaF thought it was pretty cool, and they were so caught up with their own meal and explanation that they didn't notice someone strange watching them from outside the cafe. That person moved throughout the body of Silas with determination, and they stopped outside of the bio lab. Sneaking in quietly, as this time of day there was no one around, they found themselves with two sources of genetic information. The shady being worked diligently, but quickly, and before a clueless LaF got back to the lab, they had already done their business and left. If one were to ask LaFontaine themselves, they would say nothing was out of place or tampered with. As such was the being's plan.

 


End file.
